My doctoral work focused on understanding how metabolic dysfunction alters influenza virus dynamics in folks at high-risk for severe disease upon infection. This included studies on transmission bottlenecks between hosts and susceptibility to infection as well as investigation into host immune responses and vaccine efficacy. Here I honed skills in small animal models of infection and primary cell culture techniques.

As a postdoc, I continued my investigation into host-viral interactions by investigating the role of defective interfering particles in mammarenavirus pathogenesis and persistence in the reservoir host, and how we could exploit these as therapeutics. I gained experience in field biology, disease ecology, as well as molecular and cellular virology and used this diverse toolkit to uncover the cellular and viral factors implicated in these varying disease outcomes.

I have an expertise in RNA viral biology and modeling viral disease pathogenesis in vitro and in small and large animal models. My goal is to continue exploring viruses at the animal-human interface, including understanding the metabolic and immunologic mechanisms that favor viral maintenance in animal reservoirs and factors that favor transmission to incidental hosts.

Check out my virtual CV or download the PDF for more information on my approach to research, teaching, service, and outreach