I graduated from the Harwood lab in 2012 with a Ph.D. in Environmental and Ecological Microbiology. My doctoral research was primarily focused on the characterizing the ecology and virulence mechanisms of Vibrio vulnificus and related species. I also worked on a variety of microbial source tracking projects to determine sources of fecal pollution in recreational waters. From 2012-2017 I worked in the labs of Drs. Michael Sadowsky and Alex Khoruts at the University of Minnesota to identify signatures in the microbial community that are indicative of pollution in environmental samples or diseases associated with the intestinal microbiota. In 2018, I joined the faculty of the Department of Surgery at UMN to investigate how imbalances in the intestinal microbiota, termed dysbiosis, influence both pathogenesis and treatment outcomes of conditions ranging from obesity to cancers. Using metagenomics-based approaches and humanized mouse models, the major focus of my research is to develop microbiota-targeted, personalized interventions to improve medical and surgical treatment efficacy.