I’ve recently taken up the position as Program Director at Gillette Children’s Press.

Cerebral palsy (CP) first came into our lives when our youngest son was born. His diagnosis at age one, began a long journey from then to today, where he is now a college graduate, living independently and working at a job he loves in San Francisco. The form of CP that my son has is spastic diplegia. In the early days, I struggled to understand the condition and that affected my confidence in helping him. I read a lot; I asked lots of questions. My desire to better understand the condition led me to complete a research master’s in 2008: a case study evaluating outcome following single-event, multi-level surgery (SEMLS) plus rehabilitation.

Since a book on spastic diplegia did not exist, I wrote Spastic Diplegia–Bilateral Cerebral Palsy (2020) in conjunction with senior medical staff at Gillette Children’s Hospital, Minnesota. I later co-wrote Pure Grit: Stories of Remarkable People Living with Physical Disability (2021) with Kara Buckley, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Proceeds from both books go to research.

Families describe Spastic Diplegia–Bilateral Cerebral Palsy  as their “roadmap” for this condition. However, spastic diplegia is just one of the conditions that Gillette Children’s treats. Over the next few years, Gillette Children’s Press, hopes to publish many more “roadmaps.”

I have long been an activist in the area of disability, including membership of various national and international committees. In 2021, I joined the board of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation in New York.

In my earlier career, with a science background, I held various senior technical positions in industry and education.

Outside of the above my interests include traveling, reading, exercise and fitness, food, and spending time with family and friends. My husband and I enjoy long odysseys  exploring different countries – including a 3,000 kilometre trip by bike!