I am a first-gen college graduate, who grew up in a rural community. I practiced nursing clinically for about 12 years before transitioning to eduction and informatics. I worked for a University spin-off company (Applied Clinical Informatics/Mosby Consumer Health) that was started by Homer Warner, Jr. and Omar Bouhaddou to produce Iliad decision support software and a consumer product derived from that; this was my introduction to knowledge engineering and the world of informatics. I now work extensively with the Utah CTSI and the Utah Data Coordinating Center; and I co-direct the Center of Excellence for Exposure Health Informatics.