She has a degree from Clemson University in Psychology and Math and has spent most of her employment years to date working with computers. She has had a long-time interest in asthma because her daughter, as a toddler and through childhood, had quite severe asthma.  2 of her 5 grandsons also had very severe asthma.

Susan was trained by and is a member of the Buteyko Institute of Breathing and Health (BIBH) a non-profit International organization based in Australia which maintains rigorous standards for their member practitioners. In December 2000, she underwent an additional 2 weeks of training by Dr. Buteyko and is now also certified as a Buteyko Practitioner through the Buteyko Breathing Therapy Center of Moscow.

Buteyko Asthma Education was founded in late 1998 and since then and March 2001  over 300 people have been educated in the United States about Buteyko and the problems of hyperventilation.