Tell us a bit about yourself.

I grew up in Oregon, where exploring the outdoors throughout my childhood inspired my love of science and discovery. I left the Pacific Northwest for California when I began college at Stanford, where I studied Human Biology with a concentration in Immunology, Infectious Disease and Global Health and was bitten by the computer science 'bug.' I applied my undergraduate studies in computer science and human biology toward an M.S. in Stanford's Biomedical Informatics program before coming to HMS for graduate school. Currently, I am pursuing further research training through BIG, interwoven with training in clinical medicine, as a member of the MD-PhD dual degree program.

How do you like living in Boston? What do you do when you are not working?

Boston offers many fun activities to complement the rich academic environment at Harvard. Delicious restaurants abound, as do outdoor festivals. Running along or sailing on the Charles River is popular, weather permitting, and there are numerous cultural activities to which Harvard students can gain free access, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum. For weekend get-aways, my favorite adventures have included hiking and backpacking in the White Mountains, Acadia National Park, Cape Cod and Eastern Massachusetts.

What advice would you give to college students who are interested in a PhD in genomics/bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics is a dynamic and diverse field of study that draws individuals from a range of backgrounds: biology, medicine, computer science, math, and statistics. While it is important to have some training in each of these areas, I urge prospective doctoral students to not be dissuaded from applying to BIG if they feel more developed in one or two of these areas than the others. One of the most exciting aspects of the BIG program is that it unites students with complementary areas of expertise who are interested in expanding their scope of study and collaborating with one another through work on challenging problems in medicine that demand interdisciplinary, creative thinking.