I’m a sociologist and I study where medicine meets meaning.

My career has unfolded across disciplines that don’t often share the same room: sociology, theology, chaplaincy, and clinical research.

Today, I bring those perspectives together to study how people navigate illness and uncertainty. As a researcher at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, I explore questions related to long-term chronic illness, spiritual coping, health equity, family caregiving, and patient experience.

I study the human dimensions of health that medicine struggles to measure. I use a variety of qualitative research tools to explore these issues.

I’m interested in the spaces where medicine meets meaning—and where rigorous research can help us better understand the human side of healthcare. I help design and test ideas to improve care for children in marginalized communities and lighten the load carried by their grown-ups.

My previous projects focused on chaplaincy and interdisciplinary pediatric ICU care near the end of life; end-of-life decision-making for people exiting chronic homelessness; how religious and spiritual practices have shaped the everyday lives of BIPOC women with heart disease; emotional resilience of frontline abortion care providers; multi-cultural community engagement in ethics of clinical research, and Womanist/Black feminist contributions to the principle of respect for autonomy in medical care.

I am a Ph.D. graduate of the Sociology Program in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco (June 2022). I am also ordained clergy (Unitarian Universalist) with two decades of experience as a religious professional and theological school professor.