About Me
I am a professor and the chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. I am also on the graduate faculty at Wake Forest University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I enjoy leading these groups, identifying solutions and implementing change and helping people along the way understand their "why."
I am board certified in orthopaedic surgery, specializing in oncology. In my clinical practice, I treat soft tissue sarcomas, bone sarcomas, metastatic bone disease, lymphoma and myeloma of the bone.
Wake Forest was one of 13 sites to perform a clinical trial utilizing a novel implant to stabilize impending pathologic fractures of the bone from metastatic disease. The research led to FDA approval of this device with expanded applications over subsequent years to include patients with pathologic bone fracture from osteoporosis. I am the principal investigator for a registry to evaluate outcomes in patients who receive this implant.
I am passionate about mentoring, leadership and professional development. I am the past chair of the Women in Medicine and Science Committee at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the past president of the North Carolina Orthopaedic Association. Additionally, I serve on the board of the Eastern Orthopaedic Association. I also completed the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program, a national program for women in academic medicine with senior leadership positions.
I was 1 of 10 orthopaedic surgeons nationally selected for the 2018-2019 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Leadership Fellows Program. My interest in institutional leadership and clinical operations led me to obtain my Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree through the Working Professionals Program at Wake Forest University in 2017, where I graduated with academic distinction and was selected by my peers to receive the School of Business Leadership Award. In 2017, I was elected to the American Orthopaedic Association, an organization where membership is extended to only the top 10 percent of orthopaedic surgeons in the U.S. I have been selected as one of the Best Doctors in America since 2013 and Business North Carolina Top Doctors since 2014.
A 2004 graduate of the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University), I completed my orthopaedic residency at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, followed by an orthopaedic oncology fellowship at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
I returned to Wake Forest as faculty in 2010 and was promoted to associate professor and vice chair of the department in 2015. In 2023, I was appointed chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.