MISSION

I am dedicated to fostering inclusive and supportive environments to advance interdisciplinary scientific research, education, and communications. I firmly believe in the power of multi-sector collaborations to drive meaningful discovery and change. With a One Health vision, I strive to enhance and underline the connectedness of natural, agricultural, and built environments, ultimately improving global health for individuals to ecosystems. I am particularly focused on advancing our understanding of microbial drivers of health and the role microbiomes play in system functions, ecology, and evolution.

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BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE

Currently, I work closely with the One Health Microbiome Center's Director, to oversee research development, as well as educational and outreach programs from initiation to completion. This includes: 1. developing and managing internal and external partnerships, 2. facilitating research collaborations and working groups, 3. Shaping the Center’s research trajectory and identifying funding sources, 4. writing Center-level grant proposals, press releases, and editorials, 5. managing communications, media, and branding, 6. coordinating Center grant programs (travel, equipment, research awards, etc.), 7. managing budgets and financial projections, 8. Identifying gaps in research and training, 9. event planning (Symposiums, etc.), and more.

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Previously, I earned my PhD in plant pathology from the University of California Riverside under the advisement of Caroline Roper. I studied tree crop (citrus) microbiomes in the context of disease and host phenology. Then, I joined Maggie Wagner's Lab in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas as a Postdoctoral Researcher. I focused on host-microbiome evolution under drought-stress and microbial adaptations. I continue to collaborate with the Roper, Wagner, and several other labs. See the "research" tab above for more information on past and current research projects.