Dr. Anna Lee Eickenbrock is an author, U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain, hospital chaplain, educator, nonprofit founder, counselor-in-training, podcast host, and lifelong advocate for whole-person care.
At the heart of Anna’s work is one simple belief: people deserve to be seen, heard, valued, and cared for as whole human beings.
Her life has taken her into some of the most sacred, complicated, joyful, and heartbreaking spaces imaginable—from hospital rooms and military formations to classrooms, nonprofit organizations, pageant stages, support groups, and behind the microphone of The Happy Chatty Chappy. Each experience has shaped the stories she tells and the way she understands the human condition.
Anna holds a Doctor of Ministry and Master of Divinity from Liberty University, as well as a Master of Legal Studies with an emphasis in family and juvenile law. She is also pursuing graduate education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and advanced certification as a Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor-educator.
As a hospital chaplain serving within a Level II trauma health system, Anna regularly walks alongside patients, families, and healthcare professionals during moments when life changes without warning. Her experiences in healthcare and spiritual care have given her a unique perspective on grief, resilience, institutional culture, relationships, ethics, and the extraordinary stories hidden behind ordinary hospital doors.
That world also helped inspire her fiction. Anna’s medical mystery writing blends suspense with the very human realities of healthcare—the personalities, relationships, secrets, ethical dilemmas, humor, grief, and dysfunction that can exist within the walls of a hospital. While her fictional characters and institutions are products of imagination, the emotional heartbeat behind her storytelling comes from years spent listening to people’s stories.
Her writing extends beyond fiction. Anna is also the author of works exploring chaplaincy and spiritual care and has ventured into children’s literature, allowing her to write for audiences across very different seasons of life.
Service is equally central to who she is. Anna and her husband, Kelly, founded nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving veterans, children, and communities in need. She has also developed complete support-group programs—including participant workbooks, weekly curricula, and facilitator guides—to address unmet needs within her community.
Anna proudly serves as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain Corps, where her ministry centers on caring for Soldiers and families across diverse faith traditions and backgrounds.
And while the titles, degrees, uniforms, books, crowns, and professional roles tell part of her story, Anna would tell you they are not the most important part.
She is a wife, mother, Nonna, daughter, sister, friend, woman of faith, proud Italian-American, and firm believer that food is a binding agent in relationships. She loves bringing people together, finding humor in unexpected places, serving others, telling a good story, and drinking enough coffee to support all the hats she insists on wearing.
Whether she is writing a mystery, standing beside a hospital bed, supporting a Soldier, developing a new community program, or simply sitting across the table from someone who needs to be heard, Anna’s purpose remains remarkably consistent:
Love people well. Tell meaningful stories. And leave every space a little better than she found it.