Ashley's interest in biomedical research began while she attended the California Institute of Technology. During her undergraduate career, Ashley interned for a summer at Columbia University performing HIV research under Dr. Stephen Goff. At Caltech Ashley worked with Jim and Ellen Strauss for three years with alphaviruses and flavivirus. Under the guidance of her current mentor, Dr. CJ Peters, at UTMB, Ashley is examining the cellular pathogenesis in Junin virus infection. Junin virus, the etiological agent of Argentine hemorrhagic fever (AHF), causes a disease in humans with significant mortality.