I earned a BA in biochemistry summa cum laude in 2010 from DePauw University and a PhD in biochemistry in the Molecular Biophysics Training Program in 2015 from Vanderbilt University. My undergraduate studies focused on neurochemistry and included training as an undergraduate research scientist, work for which I was awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, a nationally competitive award given to around 200-250 sophomores and juniors nationwide. For my PhD studies, I was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. I trained in the Department of Biochemistry and the Molecular Biophysics Training Program in the laboratory of Dr. Charles R. Sanders. I focused my work on two membrane proteins involved in heritable conditions: peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) and the C-terminal fragment of amyloid precursor protein (C99). My work on C99 focused on biophysical studies of how the membrane environment may modulate Alzheimer’s disease; my work on PMP22 focused on understanding the ways pathogenic missense variants and gene dosage impact protein folding and mechanistic states. I utilized informatics-driven computational techniques in combination with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM), and cryo-electron tomography (cryoET). I was the first researcher to undertake cryoET at Vanderbilt after establishing a relationship with two mentors at Emory University. My career goal was to achieve an independent career studying the biophysical impact of missense variants to improve predictive models of mutational impact on membrane protein folding and function. However, before I could begin my postdoctoral fellowship, I became disabled and had to leave the bench sciences, which were no longer accessible. After training in various experiential capacities, I received additional formal didactic instruction in epidemiology and human investigations from the Oregon Health and Sciences University's Human Investigations Program, as part of the training plan of an NIH career development award (see below).

In order to gain experience in a field accessible to my disability, I accepted a research analyst position position supporting Dr. Mia Levy at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer. In the Levy group, I acquired expertise in data modeling, knowledge representation, and ontology development and contributed to enhancing data models supporting structured curation of genomic clinical trial eligibility criteria and was promoted to Staff Scientist after less than a year. Those data models were used to power the public-facing resource My Cancer Genome (MCG), a website that is viewed 8,000 times a week by individuals in 211 countries and territories around the world. Our data model was also used in partnership with GenomeOncology’s Workbench services, where it powered the generation of over 40,000 interpretative reports for 31 academic medical centers and commercial labs licensing these services. This content was made available through APIs for use in electronic health records as well as in generation of molecular pathology interpretive reports. I also worked with an expert interdisciplinary team to develop a clinical molecular oncology consult service to increase access to personalized medicine for patients seeing Vanderbilt-affiliated community oncologists. Finally, I contributed to two Moonshot to Cure Cancer working group documents. I have recently returned to this team to collaborate on the development of informatics- and knowledge-driven clinical decision support at VUMC.

From 2017 to 2021, I worked at Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW). There, I worked on the Cancer Health Assessments Reaching Many (CHARM) study (MPIS: Drs. Benjamin Wilfond and Katrina Goddard),  a part of the NHGRI-funded CSER consortium with co-funding from the NCI. On that project, I led the adaptation of the PREMM5™ provider-facing application and the B-RST™ 3.0 into a patient-facing risk assessment web application for use by the low-literacy, low-resource study population. I coordinated two multi-site workgroups and an onsite software development team that collaborated with patient stakeholders from Denver Health in an iterative design process to ensure the application was accessible to patients from medically underserved populations. I also led the development of a data model that supported structured capture of participant interactions with the tool and trained the multi-site recruitment team in its use. In my mentored supplement to CHARM, I led an interdisciplinary qualitative and quantitative evaluation of these patient-facing web tools and trained in qualitative interview and analysis techniques.  I also received formal didactic training from Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU).

In my post at KPNW, I was a member of the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) Actionability Working Group (PI: Dr. Katrina Goddard). In this role, I assisted with adaptation of an actionability protocol from the adult setting to the pediatric setting. These protocols outline a standardized process to identify and synthesize evidence regarding the clinical actionability of genes and disorders associated with secondary findings during genetic testing. I applied both protocols to curate reports that were scored by experts and disseminated to the public on clinicalgenome.org. I also applied my experience with structured genomic data models and ontologies to provide user specifications for the actionability curation interface. The results of this work are used by the ACMG Secondary Findings WG and the Centers for Disease Control to provide professional recommendations about the return of secondary findings to patients undergoing genome-wide sequencing in both the adult and pediatric settings.  

At KPNW, I also participated in the CDC-funded Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) project at the Research Associate III and co-investigator levels at the Kaiser Permanent Northwest site (PI: Dr. Allison Naleway). I was actively involved in workgroups and proposal development that addressed safety outcomes associated with adolescent vaccination. In this role, I have contributed to the development of two VSD proposals and designed the data model for evaluation of outcomes for one of these funded proposals. I also contributed to work on the association of primary ovarian insufficiency/infertility with adolescent vaccinations, published in Pediatrics.

In 2021, I was recruited back to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) as a Senior Staff Scientist, where I began supporting a variety of projects. In 2024 I was promoted to Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine.

At VUMC, I lead integration of research components into the electronic health record (EHR) for the VUMC site of the NHGRI-funded Electronic Medical Records & Genomics (eMERGE) Network [Vanderbilt-Genome Electronic Records (VGER) Project; MPIs: Drs. Dan Roden, Wei-Qi Wei, and Digna Velez Edwards]. This role involves working directly with VUMC HealthIT and other technical development roles to integrate study-generated discrete and non-discrete data, including family history and genomic data, directly into the EHR. I also participate in and lead various eMERGE Network workgroup activities, including work on the Disability Workgroup, the EHR Integration Workgroup, the Clinical Decision Support Workgroup, and the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Workgroup. I will have a similar role on the recently funded genomic Learning Health System project at VUMC, on which I am a co-Investigator. I also act as scientific lead of a Sexual and Gender Minority supplement to this award, evaluating ethical, legal, and social implications of sex and gender data collection and modeling in disease risk models.

I am key personnel on the Oncology Knowledge Rapid Alerts (OKRA) project (MPIs: Drs. Christine Micheel and Travis Osterman), which seeks to develop an open-source algorithm and API for computing and storing biomarker-driven CDS from the My Cancer Genome (MCG) knowledgebase and to develop methods for  integration of biomarker-driven, human-readable CDS statements into the EHR. 

I support the Family History and Cancer Risk Study (FOREST) as co-Investigator; my primary responsibilities are manuscript drafting and methodology design and analysis. I also acted as scientific lead of a Sexual and Gender Minority supplement to this award, where I served as thesis advisor to Makenna Martin, MSGC, '24. Makenna and I conducted interviews with transgender research participants in FOREST to improve inclusivity of sex and gender measures for hereditary cancer risk assessment, and redesigned these measures based on participant-led feedback.

I also support several projects in a smaller capacity at VUMC. I support the VUMC Hereditary Cancer Center registry database, evaluation of the point-of-care testing program to evaluate patients with cancer for hereditary predisposition, and several projects under the VIVID Health umbrella; VIVID Health is VUMC's LGBTQ+ health and research center.

I also collaborate on projects outside of VUMC. I am a co-investigator on the PREMMplus™ project (PI: Dr. Sapna Syngal, Dana Farber Cancer Institute) to facilitate development of a web application akin to the PREMM5™ web application.  At VUMC, I also support research conducted through a partnership between GE Healthcare and VUMC, research conducted through AACR Project Genie, and research in implementation science at the Hereditary Cancer Clinic at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. 

Finally, I serve as a committee member and a research advisor to students in the Vanderbilt Master of Genetic Counseling (MGC) program, and teach in the program (see below).

Since my undergraduate experience, I have been a committed to teaching and mentorship. In my undergraduate career, I was a quantitative reasoning consultant (tutor) hired by the University to help students struggling in the quantitative courses. I supported students in all levels of biochemistry coursework, as well as in numerous biology, physics, mathematics, psychology, and statistics courses. I also served as the laboratory TA for the Biochemistry 240 class. I carried my passion for teaching and mentorship to graduate school, where I was assigned an undergraduate student from the Aspirnaut K-20 STEM Pipeline for Diversity. This student carried out work to design novel bicelles; her work was eventually published as part of a paper in the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society.  She went on to graduate with her PhD in biochemistry from Indiana University in the laboratory of Jonathan Schlebach. 

I currently serve as faculty in the Vanderbilt University Master of Genetic Counseling Program in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where I co-direct the Research II course and lead individual lectures or discussions in additional courses, including Research I and Theories of Human Experience.  In addition to providing classroom instruction, I work with the program directors and the other Research course directors to adapt and improve the research curriculum. I also serve on the Research Review Committee, whose responsibility it is to establish and ensure adherence to policies and procedures for the M.G.C. thesis requirement. I have served as a committee member to one student (Mryia Hubert, MSGC, CGC, '22), the primary thesis advisor to one student (Makenna Martin, MSGC, '24), and am currently serving as Research Review Committee member on the committee of a third student (Allison Binsfeld, '25).

Since early graduate school, I have been fascinated by using images to communicate about science. My illustrations have appeared on journal covers, in textbooks, in biotechnology curricula, and on scientific knowledge resource websites. Additionally, I have designed a number of study and department logos. Please visit my SciArt page for more information.

In addition to illustration for scientific purposes, I engage in a number of personal artistic hobbies, including painting, pen and ink drawing, colored pencil and graphite drawing, and sculpting miniature food and other small sculptures from polymer clay. I live in Vancouver, WA, with my wife and 3 cats. My wife is a Family Nurse Practitioner who specializes in LGBTQ+ health and gender affirming hormone therapy; she owns a private practice in Vancouver, WA, where I volunteer on occasion (she leads a number of pro bono community initiatives). She is an avid reader of New England Journal of Medicine, and discussing the latest articles in NEJM is one of our favorite date night activities. We also enjoy exploring the many beautiful nature areas in the Pacific Northwest together. As a disabled person, I enjoy finding new accessible parks to explore and am outspoken on issues related to being #DisabledInSTEM and accessibility in science. I exclusively use they/them pronouns and am also passionate about building inclusive research participation experiences for any study that may recruit participants who are transgender and/or non-binary.  Much of my faculty service activities center around DEI efforts.