Joan’s vocation as registered nurse was extensive. She served in the U.S. Army during the Viet Nam War caring for war casualties on our service men and women. After active duty she obtained a degree as a Nurse Practitioner from UCLA. Employed for over 30 years at Kaiser Permanente her experiences were in Pediatrics, General Medicine, as a Diabetes Educator and Clinical Administrator.

In addition, she continued to serve in the active U.S. Army Reserves Nurse Corps retiring after 29 years as Lt. Colonel. She was proficient in writing technical procedure manuals for nursing. The thought of writing a novel intrigued her after rendering care for her mother and brother who suffered with a serious illness. She attended graduate classes in fiction and non-fiction writing at UCLA. While participating as a member of a writing critique group she co-authored two children’s books and wrote her first memoir, “Homeward Journey” followed by this novel “A Marked Woman”.