Bio

I hold a BS in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University, where I was first exposed to community ecology, human population biology, and evolutionary medicine. I also studied savannah ecology and conservation in Kruger National Park, South Africa with the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS).

After graduating with my bachelor’s, I returned to South Africa to work with One Sun Health and the Malaria Awareness Program. Collaborating with local health workers and officials in Limpopo Province, we helped design workshops on malaria education and prevention.

I then joined the Duke Global Health Institute as a masters student, where I worked with Dr. Charlie Nunn. I helped lead a research team that used evolutionary perspectives to better understand global health challenges in Mandena, Madagascar

I also worked with Dr. Julie Horvath at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. This collaboration was instrumental for completing my masters thesis on human-environment interactions and the skin microbiome in Mandena.

After graduating with my master’s degree, I continued to lead global health research teams in Madagascar, and also served as the Assistant Director of the Triangle Center for Evolutionary Medicine, based at Duke.

I then pursued a PhD in Dr. Katie Amato’s lab at Northwestern University. During this time, I worked with Dr. Alejandra Núñez de la Mora at Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico, colleagues at the University of San Carlos in Cebu, Philippines, and physicians and families in Chicago, USA. Through these collaborations, I explored the influence of early life environments on the development of the infant skin and gut microbiome.

I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the THRiVe Discovery Lab at the University of Manitoba, where I worked with Dr. Meghan Azad. Through collaborations with the International Milk Composition Consortium (IMiC), I explored global variation in the human milk microbiome and its associations to infant growth.

When I’m not doing science, I enjoy trail running, hiking, bouldering, traveling, reading, and cooking with vegetables from my garden.