Ms. Avery Bechthold, BSN, RN is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing under the mentorship of Dr. J. Nicholas Dionne-Odom, an Associate Professor with Tenure. She is also a Graduate Research Assistant on two NIH funded studies (NCI/NIH R37CA262868; NIA K76AG064327). Ms. Bechthold is interested in developing a program of research focused on the development and testing of interventions that promote value-concordant health-related decision-making among patients with serious illness and their family caregivers. Her dissertation focuses on exploring how values are discussed, reflected upon, and acted on by patients with an LVAD and their family caregivers. Ms. Bechthold has clinical experience working in the Canadian, English, and American healthcare systems. She is originally from Canada but received her BSN from Jacksonville University in Florida. As an RN, Ms. Bechthold worked in the Heart and Vascular Intensive Care Unit (HVICU).