Dr. O'Rourke is a Nurse Practitioner with her PhD in Nursing. She graduated with her nursing diploma in the early nineties, subsequently pursuing a BS/MS from State University of New York at Buffalo to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. She continued her education in Ontario, graduating with her PhD in Nursing from the University of Ottawa in 2013. Since that time she has held Assistant Professor positions at University of Alberta, Dalhousie University and more recently Athabasca University. She also holds an adjunct Assistant Professor position with the School of Medicine at the University of Alberta.