Diane L. Gardner

Diane L. Gardner | Legislator Robert Trotta’s Honoree | Branch of Service: Air Force, Navy

Commander Diane L. Gardner, a lifelong resident of Kings Park, is a nurse anesthetist at Stony Brook University Hospital as well as a Nurse Educator at ATI.

She graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh with a bachelor’s in nursing and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force Nurse Corps in 1991. In 1997 she transferred to the United States Navy Nurse Corps to pursue a degree and certification as a nurse anesthetist.

She received the Bronze Star Medal for her extraordinary performance as a Registered Nurse Anesthetist while serving as director of nursing at Kandahar Hospital in Afghanistan. She and her team saved the life of a Navy Seal chief who was shot multiple times and severely injured.

She is the daughter of Charlie and Diane Gardner and the mother of Charlie, Casey, Caitlin and Connor.