As a child, my pediatrician was a fantastic role model by her caring attitude and interest in my success. Because of her excellent care, I became interested in medicine and planned to become a doctor. In college and medical school, I enjoyed different aspects of medicine but could not imagine doing anything other than pediatrics. I love working with children, hearing their stories about school, watching them grow through different stages and getting to know their parents. Every day I felt grateful for the opportunity to care for them. I was excited to match into pediatrics residency and start my journey.

During my pediatric residency, I was fortunate enough to rotate through the gastrointestinal (GI) team and was hooked. The different diseases we cared for were very broad and allowed me to see patients of all ages. My interest in nutrition was beneficial as we helped patients manage everything from inflammatory bowel disease to liver problems. The patient and family stories were very touching, and I started working on research in the GI field to help improve their care. These experiences spurred my interest in pediatric gastroenterology.

I completed my GI fellowship at Cincinnati Children's. During my gastroenterology fellowship, I studied the relationship between the intestinal microbiome and complications in pediatric Crohn’s disease. I received my Master’s of Clinical Research and was awarded the Cincinnati Children’s Strauss Clinical Research Grant for my research on Crohn’s disease. Through this work, I started to study the impact of nutrition on clinical outcomes in gastrointestinal diseases. I decided to continue my education through an advanced nutrition fellowship at Colorado Children's Hospital. This allowed me to dedicate clinical and educational time toward understanding the impact of severe malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies in different patients.

As a gastroenterologist, my clinical focus is pediatric nutrition, feeding disorders and micronutrient deficiencies. I care for children with all types of nutrition and GI diseases. It is important to me to approach my patients and families as a partner in their care. My goal is to hear the concerns and challenges they experience and build a plan together to support the child’s success.

Outside of work, my husband and I are excited to be back in Cincinnati with our two children, who keep us busy. We enjoy hiking, camping and playing sports together. A Cincinnati activity our family likes is walking along the riverfront downtown. Graeter’s ice cream is our favorite, and the cookie dough flavor is a favorite!