Linda Summers

Linda C. Summers is a doctoral student at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. She is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner. She has a Masters in Counseling and Educational Psychology from New Mexico State University and a Masters in Nursing from the University of New Mexico. Ms. Summers uses her combined skills as a nurse therapist and a family nurse practitioner to promote a holistic view of patient care. Her interest in adolescent health care stems from her own experience as a Puerto Rican growing up in the South Bronx. Her research interests include patient/provider communication and adolescent disclosure of health concerns to health care providers. Ms. Summers was instrumental in procuring funding for the development of a student health care center at a local high school and a dedicated adolescent clinic at a family practice office. For the past six years she has been the Behavioral Science Faculty for the Southern New Mexico Family Practice Residency Program. Ms. Summers is the secretary of the New Mexico Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau International, Border Area Council of Advance Practitioners, Society of Teachers and Family Medicine and the International Balint Society. She is married and has two daughters.