Dr. Susan Birkhead graduated from Boston University in 1974.  She worked in various staff nurse positions in Boston.  In 1984, she worked for eight months in a refugee camp in Thailand.  When she returned to the US, she attended Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a master’s degree in public health.  Subsequently, she worked in public health, including a year as a nurse epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control.  She spent the majority of her career in nursing education at the Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing in Troy, first teaching and then as the director of the program.  During that time, she earned a doctorate in nursing science at the Sage Colleges in 2015, concentrating on assessment of learning using written exams.  Dr. Birkhead is a certified nurse educator.  She retired in 2018, and then taught as adjunct faculty at Empire State College.  She serves as an auxiliary member of the NYS Board for Nursing.  In addition, she serves on several other boards of nursing organizations.  She has published several articles in the peer reviewed literature, and serves as a peer reviewer for Nursing Education Perspectives.