Donors in the Spotlight:
​Melissa Allen

Nurse Practitioner, LifeLong Medical Care
Donor & Healthcare Immersion Program Preceptor

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As a healthcare provider, I understand that keeping people moving is essential to good health. I have personally benefited from the careful research and excellent clinical education  provided by JOF principals Kathleen Geier and AJ Benham in their courses and workshops — the Orthopedic Injection Workshop in particular. What a gift to me as a clinician!

AJ and Kathy are both excellent teachers. I consider them leaders in the Bay Area, and more broadly in the U.S., in the Nurse Practitioner community. They generously share their knowledge of orthopedic treatment and health in such a thoughtful and creative way.

Being involved in JOF’s Healthcare Immersion Program (HIP) for several years as a clinical preceptor has also been an amazing gift. Similar to another program I am involved in as a clinician and Board member, called RotaCare, the HIP program exposes these college students to a tapestry of healthcare careers, which they soak up quickly. My patients loved meeting the students, and I found personally that the opportunity to engage with them was both inspiring and helpful. Knowing these sharp young people were listening to everything I said made me more aware of my own clinical style, including the need to remember to use non-medical language with my patients, for example.

I also had the fun experience of seeing the short films at the Canes Film Festival & Gala last fall that the HIP students had made as their final summer projects. I so enjoyed witnessing the range of subjects offered in the films, which reflected the imprint of each of the student’s personalities and showcased their new passions.

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