Risa Linford, AGACNP, CCRN

“I have a heart for involving patients’ desires for holistic care and helping them get better. The complexity of pulmonary medicine and the more involved care it can require are especially appealing to me.”

As a board-certified nurse practitioner at Beaufort Memorial Pulmonary Specialists, Risa Linford works with the practice’s clinical team to prevent, diagnose and treat acute and chronic diseases and conditions of the respiratory system.

Areas of Expertise

• Pulmonology – A branch of internal medicine, related to critical care medicine, that deals with diseases involving the respiratory system.
• Critical care – Highly specialized care, usually in an intensive care unit (ICU), for patients with the most severe illnesses or injuries.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – A group of inflammatory lung conditions, emphysema and chronic bronchitis among them, that block airflow and make it hard to breathe.
• Asthma – A condition in which the airways become inflamed and constricted, causing excessive mucous production, wheezing and shortness of breath.

Video Visits

Risa offers virtual visits for patients needing medication checks, standard chronic illness management, sick visits and follow-up care for certain conditions. If interested, ask about the option when scheduling.

Background

Coming from “a very long line of nurses,” Mrs. Linford says she wanted from an early age to follow them into the nursing profession. Pulmonary medicine became her passion during an intensive care unit rotation in nursing school.

Before joining Pulmonary Specialists in March 2022, the Charleston native had served as an intensive care nurse practitioner at MUSC Health in Charleston, directly managing care for multiple critically ill or injured surgical, trauma and burn patients, and as a registered nurse in Beaufort Memorial’s cardiac catheterization lab. Previously she worked as a nursing supervisor and earlier an RN in the Greenville Health System’s medical-surgical ICU in Greenville.

Mrs. Linford and her husband, David, enjoy time at the beach, walking, biking and life with their two dogs and cat.