We are pleased to present the next in our weekly series introducing you to Internal Medicine’s Advanced Practice Providers. In addition to sharing information about where they work in the department, we asked them each to tell us a little bit about their “Why” (the sustaining pull for their work) and what relaxes them. (Read previous weeks’ installments.)

Jessie Baker, MSN, AGACNP
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine

Service: Cardiomyopathy Treatment Program

Years with Internal Medicine: I started as APP in February 2018; I started at UIHC as a staff nurse August 2004.

Hometown: My hometown is St. Joseph, Missouri, and I currently live in West Branch, Iowa.

My “WHY”: I have always been passionate about Cardiology. I am grateful to have the opportunity to see patients with heart failure, post heart transplant, and patients with pulmonary hypertension. I joined the health profession to help people, and becoming a nurse practitioner has been a life long dream of mine. I can honestly say every day I come to work I learn something new and I am grateful to work with such a good team of people. In heart failure we have the opportunity to help people through all aspects of their journey, whether it is toward heart transplant, LVAD placement, recovery of heart function, or end-of-life hospice. My goal is to help people navigate this process with compassion and understanding.

What relaxes me:  I love to read, paint, bake, spend time outdoors, walk my dog, play cards/games, spend time with friends/family. I love to get to the beach whenever possible!

Jessie is very passionate about her work. She is a great colleague and an invaluable member of our team.

—Christopher Benson, MD

Read what patients say about her:

• Helpful info from Ms. Baker, and she was very easy to talk with.
• Very thorough review of meds, paid attention to what I had to say
• [Jessie] Baker listens well & is thorough.
• I always enjoy seeing Jessie Baker. She is helpful, courteous, and talks to you like a person, not just a number or just another patient.
• Jessie probably was instrumental in saving my life.
• Jesse Baker was very, very thorough and attentive to my concerns and treatment. I feel confident that she is very well schooled in cardiology, and I would be glad to see her for all my questions concerning my cardiac problems.