I am a genomicist with over 7 years of research experience working with different ‘omics dataset generation and analyses. My previous education includes a bachelor’s degree in engineering with a biotechnology major and a master’s degree in Biological Sciences. I recently completed my Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of South Carolina. My doctoral research focused on characterizing regions of genome rearrangements in Caulobacter; a genus of gram-negative, oligotrophic bacteria that undergoes asymmetrical cell division. We found that regions of genome instability were mediated by related and repeated sequences within the chromosome via specialized genetic elements such as tRNA or mobile elements. We also identified new genetic elements with hairpin structures at sites of recombination.

As a doctoral student, I co-founded a regional student group for the International Society of Computational Biology for the region of the Southeast USA (ISCB-RSG-SEUSA). This organization was founded to promote networking, mentoring, and academic fellowship amongst students interested in computational biology. As the inaugural regional president, I organized the first symposium at the University of South Carolina in 2017, which was externally evaluated and assessed for support by the ‘South-Carolina-INBRE’ program. Later I was selected as a Grace Hopper Scholar and sponsored by NetApp to attend the Grace Hopper Conference in 2018. In 2018 I also helped organize, as South Carolina’s ambassador, Stanford University’s “Women in Data Science (WID)” conference in Columbia, South Carolina to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion of women and minorities in Data Science. My mission is to continue advocating for DEI in Computational Biology and Data Science, and I look forward to the opportunities offered at Stanford to help me become a stronger advocate.

Due to my quantitative and biological research background, I enjoy working at the intersection of data and life sciences. I will be joining Dr. Aghaeepour’s research group on a diversity supplement grant from NIGMS. My objective during my post-doctoral training is to develop building algorithms to integrate “multi-omics” and  “multi-dimensional” datasets to dissect and harness complex immune responses to improve health care outcomes impacted by infectious diseases.

INTERESTS:

Immunology, Microbiology, Pathology, Networks, Clustering, and Complex Systems.

PLAY:

If I am not working, reading, or hanging out with my daughter, I enjoy exploring the area in and around Santa Cruz with my family.