Susan Mossman Riva graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1986 with a degree in International Relations. She later completed the European Master in Mediation in Valais, Switzerland and created a mediation service for political asylum seekers for the Valais Canton. In 2009, she received her doctorate in the Social Sciences at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands. Her thesis is entitled "Conflict Narratives: Mediation Case Studies in an Intercultural Context". Her postdoctoral work has been in public health research focusing on mental health, immigrant health, and the Senior Living Lab. She developed transformational pedagogies through autoethngraphy referred to as the Transformagram Learning Model. She teaches conflict resolution and medical anthropology at Creighton University. She lives in La Tzoumaz, a ski resort in the Swiss Alps where she and her husband have raised five children.