Dr. Benner earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in nursing from Pasadena College in 1964. She went on to earn a Master of Science in Medical-Surgical Nursing from the University of California at San Francisco in 1970, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1982. In the late 1960s, Benner worked in the nursing field. This included working as a Head Nurse of the Coronary Care Unit at the Kansas City General Hospital and an Intensive Care Staff Nurse at the Stanford University Hospital and Medical Center. From 1970 until 1975, she was a Research Associate at the University of California at San Francisco School of Nursing. Following that, she was a Research Assistant to Richard S. Lazarus at the University of California at Berkeley. From 1979 until 1981, she was the Project Director at the San Francisco Consortium/University of San Francisco for a project achieving methods of intraprofessional consensus, assessment, and evaluation. Since 1982, Dr Benner has been working in research and teaching at the University of California at San Francisco School of Nursing. Dr Benner has published nine books, including From Novice to Expert, Nursing Pathways for Patient Safety, and The Primacy of Caring. She has a also published many articles. In 1995, she was awarded the 15th Helen Nahm research Lecture Award from the University of California at San Francisco School of Nursing. She is currently a professor emerita in the Department of Physiological Nursing at the University of California at San Francisco School of Nursing. Some of her works include: Dr Patricia Benner's Contribution to Nursing Theory: From Novice to Expert Concept Patricia Benner developed a concept known as “From Novice to Expert.” This concept explains that nurses develop skills and an understanding of patient care over time from a combination of a strong educational foundation and personal experiences. Dr Benner proposed that a nurse could gain knowledge and skills without actually learning a theory. She describes this as a nurse “knowing how” without “knowing that.” She further explains that the development of knowledge in fields such as nursing is made up of the extension of knowledge through research and understanding through clinical experience. SOURCE https://nursing-theory.org/nursing-theorists/Patricia-Benner.php