I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Neuroscience Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I received my Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego’s Biomedical Sciences Program. In addition to research, I teach and mentor in the classroom and the lab.
Bio
I spent my childhood in a small Utah town called Kamas, where I fished, biked and gained a lifelong love of the mountains. My family later moved to Farmington, Missouri. During high school there, I worked at a vet clinic taking care of the animals and cleaning the building. An often unpleasant job, but with very pleasant coworkers. After graduation, I attended a year of college at Truman State University before leaving for a two year church mission to Argentina. Getting to know the people of Argentina was one of the highlights of my life.
After the mission, I attended another year at Truman State before transferring to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I graduated in 2000 with a B.S. in Zoology. Science has always been my favorite subject, so I always felt my career would be in that field. I also had some chances to teach at BYU and found that very rewarding. With a passion for science and teaching, I felt that a Ph.D. was the right direction to go. After interviewing at several schools around the country, I decided to attend U.C. San Diego because of the large variety of research areas available for me to explore. I loved living in San Diego, and I enjoyed research in Dr. Gleeson’s lab. Most importantly, I met my wife in San Diego. After moving to North Carolina for my post doc, we were blessed with two beautiful daughters.
