I’m from Huntsville, Arkansas, a tiny town in the Ozarks. Completed my bachelors in Pre-Med/Biology at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. From there I joined the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Nutrition Center and started work as a research assistant looking into the nutritional effects of soy and related isoflavones on the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma and the effects of EtOH on lipid peroxidation products and ROS generation, along with their contribution to hepatic inflammation and hepatocellular carcinoma progression.

Afterwards I moved to New Orleans with my PI to set up a lab at the medical school there where we continued our previous work while broadening the studies by looking at the effects of various types of fats as well as the microbiome in initiation/promotion models of hepatocellular carcinoma. It was from this work that I developed an interest in toxicology and cancer and that led me to the human toxicology program here at Iowa, where I hope to benefit greatly from such an interdisciplinary approach in future tox/cancer research.

Advisor: Douglas Spitz, Ph.D.