“When I grow up, I’d like to be a pediatric palliative care researcher!” said no child ever. However, once exposed to end-of-life care patients, it is difficult to turn away.

I have had the privilege of working with children and families in palliative care settings for almost a decade in clinical, caregiving and research positions. My journey began at George Mark Children’s House, the first pediatric end-of-life, transitional and respite care facility in the USA. After completing my Bachelor’s degree with Highest Honors in psychology (focusing on pediatric palliative care) at the University of California, Berkeley, I went on to complete my PhD in Health Psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on communication within families when a child is at the end of life.

As a play therapist, I further developed sensitivity and perceptiveness. I am quick to adapt my knowledge and pull examples from my experiences and those of colleagues and research participants. Though I have focused on pediatric palliative care for the past decade, my ultimate goal is to continue translating knowledge about childhood and family health issues across academic and applied settings.

As a postdoctoral research coordinator at the Health Sciences Research Institute at UC Merced, I am currently…

1. Coordinating multidisciplinary collaborations to combat coccidioidomycosis (and family issues for pediatric cocci patients)
2. Creating a tool to measure wellbeing in pediatric palliative care patients
3. Evaluating a the first known pediatric palliative aquatics program
4. Developing a tool to help primary caregivers modify their asthmatic children’s behavior in response to air quality data.