Elena Dawson was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She became a doctor but gave up her residency because she didn’t get along with the chief resident. Elena arrived in Genoa City in 2019 as caretaker for her uncle, former R&B singer Jett Slade. They were living in a cheap motel room, and Jett’s disability paid her salary while she worked on paying off her massive college debt. Jett’s daughter Ana Hamilton was paying for his medical care. Ana, a singer herself, was living with her billionaire half-brother Devon Hamilton. Ana worked as his assistant at one of his companies, LP Streaming. When Devon discovered that Ana’s songwriting money was going to finance Jett’s medical treatment, he convinced Jett and Elena to move into his penthouse with him and Ana, and let Devon pay for Jett’s medical treatment. Devon pointed out that Jett’s last album was 10 years ago, and perhaps he could be cured and even get his music career back on track.

Devon and Elena began spending time together, enjoying each other’s company. Elena told Devon about her mother Monica, (Jett’s sister), during the time she was a resident working crazy hours. Her mother had been epileptic, and it was Elena’s job to make sure Monica took her pills, but when Elena wasn’t there, Monica fell, hit her head, had a seizure and died. Elena still felt guilty, not being there and so caught up in her career. Devon began seeing a lot of his recently deceased wife Hilary in her. One night, Elena found Devon crying in his sleep on the couch. Elena woke him, and he kissed her, but Devon apologized the next day.

On April 23, 2019, Devon’s father Neil came to Genoa City to attend the grand opening of Society. Devon gave Elena her choice of Hilary’s unworn gowns to wear. Neil felt exhausted and laid down for a nap upstairs at Devon’s penthouse, promising to meet them there later. When Neil failed to show up, Devon went home to check on him. Devon came down his stairway in tears, having discovered that Neil had died of a stroke in his sleep. Everyone in Genoa City whose life Neil had touched was saddened and shocked by the news of the death of their friend. Devon shared with Ana how his life had become a series of deaths; Neil’s wife Dru, his grandmother Katherine, Hilary, who died in a tragic car accident while carrying their unborn child, and now Neil. Family and friends gathered for Neil’s funeral in tears, where Ana sang “Amazing Grace”. They shared remembrances and stories of how Neil had touched their lives and made them better. Elena was there to comfort Devon in his mourning.

Devon considered hiring Theo Vanderway to be Ana’s boss, saying she needed more training. Ana was insulted and resentful, noting that a social media influencer did not have more qualifications that she did. Ana left to spend some time on the road with Jett’s comeback tour. Left alone with Devon, Elena prepared to move out. But Devon let her know how much he wanted her there with him, and he and Elena made love. Elena became furious with Devon when she discovered that he had paid off her college loans. But they talked it out and came to an understanding, and Devon convinced her to stay. Elena got an EMT position at Memorial, not wanting to dive back in to interning again. Elena made friends with Dr. Nate Hastings, Devon’s cousin by his own adoption who lived in the penthouse next door.

Elena confronted Devon after discovering that he was still having panic attacks, not taking his medication, and believing that Hilary just wouldn’t let go. Nate, Ana, and Elena intervened pointing out that Devon was still watching videos of her show to keep her alive, and her clothes, photos and perfume were all still there. Devon finally gave in and got rid of everything except a few photos and his favorite video. In time he asked Elena to move into his bedroom, and officially be “living together”. Elena with support from Nate and Devon, took an opportunity to become a general surgery resident at Genoa City Memorial. Both Elena and Nate work long hours in the Emergency Room.

Devon was suddenly notified of discrepancies in his grandmother Katherine Chancellor’s will. It was that will that had made Devon a young billionaire 6 years prior. Attorney Amanda Sinclair arrived in town, shocking everyone she met by looking identical to Devon’s dead wife Hilary. Amanda claimed that Chance Chancellor had hired her after he discovered that Devon’s father Tucker McCall had paid Katherine’s attorney David Sherman to alter 2 pages of her will to leave the bulk of her estate to Devon instead of Cane Ashby. Cane denied any knowledge of it, Chance was working undercover and could not be reached, nor could Tucker. Once the original pages were authenticated, and even though the statute of limitations to contest the will had run out, Devon felt obligated to give Cane the two billion, 475 million dollars he had inherited. Devon kept his companies and assets the money had allowed him to secure. Then Chance showed up in town saying he knew nothing about the claim, and did not hire Amanda. Chance exposed that it had all been a scam by Cane’s conman father Colin Atkinson, who had already stolen the money out of Cane’s bank account and was hiding out on the island of Kuredu, in The Maldives. While Chance and the Feds waited on extradition, Colin managed to escape the authorities there, and called Chance to taunt him. Devon had a hard time understanding how he could have been bilked and became obsessed with it. Elena was feeling left out and ignored, and let Devon know, which Devon took as an ultimatum. Devon received an anonymous text of numbers which Kevin traced to an offshore account containing two billion, 475 million dollars in Devon’s name. Another text to Devon said, “Money can make a person crazy, apologies mate.” Devon was shocked but relieved.

Elena proposed creating a low-cost clinic for New Hope residents and anyone needing low-cost medical care. Devon thought it was a great idea. They convinced Nate to oversee medical protocol for people in recovery, and Nate and Elena would work there part time. Devon, Nate, and Elena went to check out a location they had in mind for the New Hope clinic, when a teenager named Jared came in with a deep cut he had received by being shoved against a security gate by two guys who had looted his grandfather’s store where Jared worked. Nate and Elena tended to his wounds, and they gave him supplies for him and his grandfather. The next day, Devon bought the rundown building. Jared returned, upset that his grandfather had passed out. They got the old man to the hospital, but he later died. When the trio tried to comfort Jared, he ran off. Later Jared fought with his landlord, and ended up in jail. Amanda got the charges dropped. Jared had been a foster kid until he found his grandfather, who had agreed to take him in. Amanda shared that she too had grown up in foster care and got him to open up. Jared told how his grandfather had been a domino master, that his shop was rented, and he didn’t know how he could possibly keep it. They gave Jered a job working at the clinic. Seeing this new side of Amanda, Devon decided to forgive and befriend her. They asked her to give legal assistance at New Hope, and she agreed.

Amanda and Dr. Nate Hastings began to get close and started dating. Both were very cautious, not wanting to rush things. But one evening after a grueling day at the clinic where they had saved Jared from an overdose, Nate and Elena were overcome with lust and had sex on an exam table. They both realized it was a mistake and vowed to never speak of it again. But Elena felt so guilty that she ended up confessing to Devon, and he asked her to move out. Devon told Amanda and she broke up with Nate. Elena quit working at the clinic to avoid Nate and moved into the apartment above Crimson Lights as Lola’s roommate. Devon found the two of them together in the lobby bar of The Grand Phoenix and started a fight with Nate. Nate refused to fight, but Devon shoved him into a table causing a glass to break and severely cut Nathan’s hand. I turned out that tendons had been cut and Nate would not be able to do surgery again. After months of indecision over what to do with his life, Nate began to oversee surgeries and teach, and was offered the job of Chief of Surgery at Memorial. Elena and Nate had an on again/off again romantic relationship throughout 2020-2021. Elena considered a job offer in Baltimore as an attending physician in the ER. But she ended up saving Nate who was allergic to crab with an EpiPen. Nate asked her not to take the job, to stay there with him, and they ended up having sex. Elena turned down the job. Nate quit his side job with ChanceComm as online doctor with AskMDNow, and it was offered to Elena who accepted. By the 2022 they were living together in Nate’s house. But tired of constant home repairs and wanting to retake possession of his inheritance from Neil, Nate bought back the penthouse from Chelsea and they moved in.

It became obvious that Imani was continually making plays for Nate, even in front of Elena, especially since he quit medicine and went to work for Chancellor-Winters where Imani worked too. Devon was looking for ideas for new podcasts, and Elena suggested medical podcasts to replace AskMDNow which had been continually on hiatus due to her busy schedule. Devon offered her a job making them. Nate thought she was too busy but Elena convinced them that she would cut back on her clinic hours to make it work.