Dr. Dufrene has been a registered nurse for over 30 years. She is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a medical/surgical nurse and a gerontological nurse practitioner. She is a certified nurse educator through the National League for Nursing. She has taught in baccalaureate nursing programs since 2000 at Louisiana State University Health Science Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, before joining UST in 2013. Before entering academia, Dr. Dufrene worked as a staff nurse, charge nurse, house supervisor, and nurse manager on med/surg and has experience on physical rehabilitation units, skilled nursing, and telemetry. Dr. Dufrene’s research interests focus on nursing education, particularly student outcomes. She has presented at regional, national, and international conferences on the use of simulation and standardized patients in nursing education and has published articles related to simulation in healthcare education. She serves as a manuscript reviewer for Geriatric Nursing and Nurse Education Today. Dr. Dufrene has served on the boards of chapters of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society (STTI) at LSU, UTMB, and UST. She is a member of ANA, TNA, and TNA District 9.