Susan received her BSN and MSN from Loyola University of Chicago. Her nursing experiences have been broad and varied, with employment in adult, geriatric and pediatric settings, both acute and community settings.

Her teaching experience includes that of clinical instructor at the UI for many years, mostly in undergraduate clinical core courses.

She indicates that community health nursing best encompasses her interests and expertise because of the opportunity to focus on health promotion and primary prevention with children and families who can integrate positive health habits early in their life span. Her research interests include health promotion, particularly primary prevention, across the life span, and obesity prevention in children.