LaShonna received her Bachelor of Science degree in Respiratory Therapy from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. She received her Master of Arts in Health Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. LaShonna has been employed at Children’s of Alabama for over 25 years. She served as night shift team leader for 10 years while working in Special Care Unit, Acute Care Units, the Emergency Department, NICU, and PICU. LaShonna has been an RT clinical coordinator for the Pulmonary Division since March 2003. She does in-patient and out-patient education, equipment referrals, and discharge planning for Asthma, BPD, and Cystic Fibrosis patients, working on all 3 out-patient teams.

LaShonna became a certified asthma educator in 2011. LaShonna is one of the board of directors for the NAECB (National Asthma Educator Certification Board). She worked with the American Lung Association for 5 years as a presenter for the Asthma Educator Institute, which is a two day preparatory course designed to help qualified individuals pass the asthma educator exam. She has consented for research with the asthma database. She has done community asthma education through schools, health fairs, asthma camps, child care resources, and the annual COA school nurse workshops.

LaShonna works with the BPD team to go to statewide Hospital NICUs for recruitment and education about the BPD diagnosis and COA BPD specialty clinic.

LaShonna has been a presenter and a moderator for the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference for many years. She has done quality improvement work with the CF team at COA and internationally with hospitals in Santiago and Concepcion, Chile. She has also done QI projects with IHI, and with the CF Learning Network. In 2010, LaShonna became a mentor for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation RT Mentoring Program. She became one of the facilitators of the program in 2012. Her main interest is quality care through quality improvement for children with pulmonary diseases. LaShonna is the chairperson of the PT/RT discipline on the Program Planning Committee for NACFC (North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference).

LaShonna is a member of the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), the Alabama Society for Respiratory Care (ASRC), and the Association of Asthma Educators (AAE).