After graduating from the Duke University Physician Assistant Program in 1995, Claire began her career as a PA at the community health clinic for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Siletz, Oregon. She practiced in the specialties of family medicine, emergency and urgent care medicine, and hospital medicine before retiring from clinical practice in 2025.

Claire began her career in PA education in 2000 as the Academic Coordinator for the University of Alabama, Birmingham PA program. She later served as the Assistant Program Director and Academic Coordinator for the Yale University PA program. She joined the OHSU faculty in 2006 and has had a variety of teaching, administrative and leadership roles.  Claire enjoys teaching a range of clinical and professional courses and supporting and guiding students on their journey to becoming physician associates. She has an interest in teaching clinical reasoning skills, curriculum development and assessments.

In addition to serving on institutional committees, Claire has also been the chair of the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Faculty Development Committee, as an exam writer and reviewer for the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) and as an accreditation site visitor for the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).  Claire has been a regional and national speaker at numerous PA professional meetings and conferences.

Claire has two grown sons.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, paper quilling, baking, knitting, board games (really, almost any kind of game), music from the 1980s, and watching British crime dramas.