Q & A

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Boston, MA (go Red Sox!) and have lived in Birmingham, AL before settling down here in Hephzibah, GA

Do you have any children? What about pets?

My husband and I welcomed our first child this summer, our sweet son Stephen. We own a small farm with cows, goats, chickens, ducks, horses, and a mule. We also have 2 cats, 2 dogs, and 2 fish.

What else do you like to do when you’re not teaching or chasing animals?

I love to read, train for running events, go camping, fish, cook, and watch baseball. I particularly enjoy watching the Red Sox win and the Yankees lose. 😉

Where did you go to college?

Northeastern University

What did you study?

Behavioral Neuroscience

I’ve heard that you haven’t always been a teacher, what was your job before?

I worked in biomedical research, first for a company called Ekam Imaging in Boston, MA and then for both the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Augusta University.

What different kinds of research have you done?

After graduating from Northeastern, I had the honor of working for Ekam Imaging, the only facility in the world to perform preclinical drug trial research using MRI imaging on conscious subjects. This unique type of imaging enabled us to study and follow changes in brain activity in models of disease including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and others as well as in response to hormones, ageing, environment, drugs of abuse and other stimuli. I’d love to tell you more about it sometime-It was super cool!

I continued my career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the preclinical imaging core with a primary focus on gaining a molecular understanding of different types of cancer by using non-invasive MRI, SPECT and CT imaging to follow disease progression. This kind of research is very important to help us find new cures for cancer to help the people we love get well and stay well.

After moving to Hephzibah, I worked at Augusta University performing research focused on investigating molecular mechanisms of acute and chronic inflammation using models in injury and autoimmunity. We worked to find answers to questions like “How can we help the soldiers protecting our country recover faster if they get hurt?” and “If someone is in shock because they lost a lot of blood, what drugs can we give them to help?”

What made you decide to become a high school science teacher?

High school is an exciting time of exploration and growth as students enter their final chapter as a teenager before they begin their adult lives. I have had so many teachers and mentors pour their knowledge into me and inspire me to push for more, and I wanted to repay that gift through teaching. I loved every moment of my work in research, so the opportunity to share so much of what I have learned and to spark a love of science in an eager new audience has been a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to see what this new school year holds!