I was born in New York and raised in Connecticut. My education includes a B.A. from St. Francis College in New York and my R.N. from the Grace-New Haven School of Nursing at Yale University Medical Center. I moved to the Bay Area in 1979 and pursued my Nurse Practitioner license in Family Planning from San Jose State University. During that time, I also raised my three beautiful children, twins Alex & Jennifer and my youngest, Tara.

Devoting energy to my beloved family has always been my number one priority. My other priority has been my dedication to the physical and mental well-being of the community in which I live.

I became a Board member of the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation in 2013 and I have been an enthusiastic supporter, and ardent sponsor of the Foundation’s Annual Women’s Luncheon and Lecture since 2001. I have acted as Chair or Honorary Chair of the Luncheon Committee for all those years. I have been deeply involved in growing this community gathering to become the preeminent healthcare event in San Mateo County.

In addition to my work with the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation, I was on the Executive Board of Caminar (Board Secretary 2017 – 2020), a non-profit community-based agency that has been providing support services to individuals with mental health disorders for more than 50 years. I was also on the Board of the Ruskin Group Theatre Company in Santa Monica, an innovative theatre group that conducts outreach programs for hospitalized children. I participated on The Bay Area Committee of Damon Runyon, a cancer research foundation. I am on the board of Jazz At The Ballroom, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to showcasing and promoting American jazz artists, and fostering music and arts education in Bay Area schools.

Over the years, I have been a devoted patron of Orphan Compassion, a non-profit organization created to improve the quality of life for orphans in Cameroon, Africa. I have been a major underwriter for Samaritan House, which supplies food services, safe harbor shelter and free healthcare clinics to our local community. I have enjoyed being a dedicated benefactor of Community GatePath, now known as AbilityPath, which provides services for youth and adults with special needs and developmental disabilities; and Protect Our Defenders, a national organization focused on ending sexual assault in the military. For several years I was a member of the Leadership Council for Maria Shriver’s Women’s Alzheimer Movement, and a supporter of their Move for Minds fundraising event.

On the personal side, I have always enjoyed being a life-long world traveler. In the past few years, I have traveled to Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, England, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.