I am a first-gen college graduate who grew up in a rural community. I practiced nursing clinically for about 12 years before specializing in informatics. My informatics speciality is clinical research informatics. I worked for a University spin-off company that was developed Homer Warner's Iliad decision support software and a consumer product derived from that. This was my introduction to knowledge engineering and the world of academic informatics. I am now a tenured full professor with joint appointments in Nursing and Biomedical Informatics, working extensively with the Utah CTSI (biomedical informatics core) and the Utah Data Coordinating Center.