I graduated with my Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. I also completed by bachelor's degree in Psychology in 1974 and my masters degree in Counseling Psychology in 1978 from the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign. After I graduated with my Ph.D. in 1985, I worked for five years at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois on an inpatient, adult substance abuse treatment unit. I obtained my License as a Clinical Psychologist in December 1987. From 1990-1995, I was employed as a Psychologist at Carle Clinic in Urbana, Illinois.
At Carle, I evaluated children and adolescents admitted into the inpatient treatment programs providing diagnoses and recommendations as part of a multi-disciplinary team. In addition, I provided outpatient therapy to adults and children including families. At Carle, I was the head of the psychology department for two years.

I have been in private practice since 1985. For 20 years, I had a contract with Cunningham Children's Home in Urbana, Illinois where I conducted psychological evaluations for children and adolescents who were residents there.
I have also conducted psychological evaluations for children, adolescents and adults in the child welfare system.
In addition, I have conducted parenting evaluations, psychological evaluations and fitness assessments for the Court.
In my work, I have advocated for the safety and welfare of children with efforts to provide recommendations to assist parents and families. I am on the Champaign, Illinois Child Death Review Team (CDRT), a multidisciplinary team where we review cases of children's deaths with recommendations to make changes to help prevent avoidable deaths in the future. I have been an instructor in Psychiatry with the University of Illinois. I taught at Loyola University in Chicago
(graduate students). As a grad student, I taught undergraduate psychology tat the University of Illinois.