I began my nursing career at NYU Langone Hospital, where I cared for patients recovering from anesthesia and heart surgery.  My tenure there included working with heart transplant patients at the internationally recognized NYU Heart Transplant Program.  Nursing at the highest level of care, this experience was exhilarating and inspiring, and it continues to support my foundational knowledge of the incredible human body.  Following my time at NYU, I joined Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where I worked in the pre-surgical center, caring for both adults and children in the pre- and post-anesthesia units.  During this period, I also began my master’s program at George Washington University, graduating in 2019 with a Master of Science in Nursing in Adult Primary Care.

Later as a nurse practitioner in Northern Philadelphia, I cared for at-risk older adults in their homes.  This experience was profoundly transformative.  I was introduced to a side of patient care that very few providers observe—an intimate view of a person’s living environment. I witnessed firsthand the impact of challenging social determinants on the development and progression of chronic diseases and mental health disorders, as well as how stigma and under-resourced support systems complicate health management.  Mental health should never be secondary to the management of physical diseases, nor should the body be neglected.  I became board-certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide psychiatric mental health treatment across the lifespan to do my part to address this critical gap in healthcare.  To truly practice as a holistic provider, I believe it’s essential to understand the intricate and complex interplay between mind and body as the standard of care, not the exception.  As a nurse practitioner who cares for patients struggling with eating disorders, I am deeply committed to always practicing within this rule, just as the entire team here at New Roots is.

I am a board-certified primary care and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner with over 10 years of experience providing care to children, adolescents, adults and families.  I am passionate about empowering individuals to achieve their health goals, and I am deeply committed to helping people cultivate a compassionate, grounded and integrated relationship with their physical, emotional and spiritual selves.

In today’s world, health is often defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.  As a recovering perfectionist, I’ve found this definition leaves little space for the messy, beautiful and unpredictable wildness of real life.  Over the years, I’ve come to create my own definition of health:  a state of inner knowing, stillness, acceptance, joy, embodiment, curiosity and connectedness – one that I sometimes experience, always know is there and sometimes need to rediscover..

My role at New Roots is to provide integrated medical and psychiatric care for individuals navigating eating disorders and the complex medical and psychological conditions that often accompany them. I conduct comprehensive medical and mental health evaluations and provide ongoing medical monitoring to support safe recovery. This includes interpreting laboratory studies, monitoring vital signs and orthostatic changes, assessing nutritional stability, and identifying medical complications that can arise from under-nourishment or disordered eating. I work closely with patients and the broader treatment team to ensure that medical stability supports the therapeutic and nutritional work happening alongside it.

Eating disorders rarely exist in isolation. A significant part of my work involves assessing for, diagnosing, and treating co-occurring mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, trauma-related disorders, ADHD, and neurodevelopmental differences including autism spectrum traits that commonly overlap with ARFID. I provide medication management when appropriate and integrate elements of evidence-based therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, foundational Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for ARFID (CBT-AR). I also offer practical executive functioning support for individuals with ADHD and help determine when additional neuropsychological testing may clarify cognitive or learning differences that impact treatment.

Recovery from an eating disorder also requires careful attention to the body’s broader physiology. I frequently evaluate metabolic, endocrine, hormonal, gastrointestinal, and autoimmune factors that may interfere with adequate and consistent nourishment or contribute to distressing physical symptoms. Many individuals I work with also experience complex conditions such as mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), and irritable bowel syndrome/disease (IBS/IBD). Supporting these conditions requires a multidimensional approach that integrates medication management, medical monitoring, nervous system regulation, and collaboration with outside specialists when needed.

At the center of this work is collaboration. I work closely with the multidisciplinary New Roots team—including therapists and dietitians—as well as primary care providers, specialists, schools, and families when appropriate. Together we develop treatment plans that support both the psychological and biological aspects of recovery, recognizing that sustainable healing happens when the brain and body are supported together.

My practice philosophy centers on the understanding that the mind and body are deeply interconnected and cannot be treated separately. Eating disorders and related conditions often arise at the intersection of biology, environment, nervous system regulation, and lived experience. My goal is to help patients understand how these pieces fit together so that symptoms can be addressed with both compassion and scientific clarity.

I strive to create a collaborative and trusting relationship with each patient, grounded in curiosity, transparency, and respect for their lived experience. Treatment often involves combining medical care—such as laboratory monitoring, medication management, and evaluation of physiological contributors to symptoms—with psychological and behavioral strategies that support nervous system regulation, cognitive flexibility, and a more stable relationship with food and the body.

My approach is trauma-informed and affirming of neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+ identities, and body diversity. I believe that healing is not about forcing the body into rigid ideals of health, but about helping individuals build the stability, insight, and support systems needed to care for themselves in a sustainable way that encourages freedom and vitality. Together we work to develop flexible and individualized treatment plans that support nourishment, mental health, and long-term well-being.