Originally from a small town in southern Ohio, I earned both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biomedical sciences at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. After completing the pre-clinical education in Medical School, I realized the clinical focus was not my passion and began to explore other paths. During my earlier research, I developed a love for cell biology and genomics and desired to further explore these passions by working for a year as a research associate at the Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, before applying to Ph.D. programs. I joined UTMB in the Fall of 2021 in the cell track within the Biochemistry, Cell, and Molecular Biology program. Last May I joined Michelle Wards Lab with the BMB department and am currently studying the role TEs play in differential transcriptional regulation in cell differentiation between human and chimpanzee iPSCs to cardiomyocytes. The long-term objective is to understand the regulatory mechanisms that allow for phenotypic differences despite sequence similarities between humans and chimpanzees. My overall professional goal is to become a professor, and I am taking every opportunity available at UTMB to teach. Outside of lab work and class work, I am a lover of music and theatre and have long been on the search for a local choir to join. Before moving to Texas, I had been a part of 6 different choirs and been a part of 4 different stage productions.
