Suzi received her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. Her nursing background of thirty five years has been entirely in the specialty of pediatrics. Suzi's clinical experience has been general pediatrics, NICU and well-baby nursery and pediatric home care prior to transitioning to the healthcare call center management in the spring of 2000.
With twenty years of management experience, Suzi currently is manager of St. Louis Children’s Hospital Answer Line, overseeing the clinical services in the BJC Call Center. The Answer Line employs approximately 55 pediatric registered nurses and 15 answering service staff. The call center handled more than 266,000 calls in 2009, with approximately 114,000 being triage and health information calls.
Suzi's clinical passions are nurse education, evidence-based practice and improving communication with physician colleagues. Suzi is currently a member of the board of directors for AAACN. During her years with AAACN, she has been active in the Telehealth Special Interest Group. Also, Suzi currently represents AAACN as the nurse liaison to the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Telehealth Care, assisting them with strategies for continuing education of triage nurses in call center and primary practice settings. Suzi was awarded the Leadership Award at St. Louis Children's Hospital for 2007, exemplifying the hospital's standard of high values. She presents nationally on call center management topics, pediatric clinical topics and the FISH! Philosophy, which is alive and well in her call center.