Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Florida, Ms. Rivera is fluent in Spanish.

With 15 years of nursing experience, Ms. Rivera is dedicated to bridging gaps within the healthcare system by empowering patients to reclaim their autonomy and providing education needed to navigate those systems. Presently, she works as a wound care nurse practitioner and a medical examiner for the veteran compensation and pension disability program. Ms. Rivera has experience in both intensive and acute care disciplines to include: ICU, Step-Down, Gastroenterology, Ambulatory Surgical, Primary Care, Med-Surg Tele, Med Surg Oncology. She has also most recently worked as a Nursing Supervisor for the Loma Linda VA Medical Center, and as the Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Facility Coordinator for the San Diego VA Health Care System; requiring management, consulting, emergency management, team building, training/mentoring, data collection and entry, gap analysis, engineering, contracting, logistics, tailored care plans for inpatient, outpatient, and home health patient populations.

Additionally, volunteers as a nurse practitioner for internal humanitarian trips having served rural underprivileged and underdeveloped regions in Africa, India, and South America.