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Biography
My goal as a future physician-scientist is to develop computational methods and software focused on extracting clinically actionable information from data sources ranging from high throughput multi-omic experiments to clinical exam medical records. As an undergraduate researcher studying organic synthesis, I never produced enough data to warrant a deep dive into rigorous computational analysis; however, as a post-baccalaureate researcher at the NIH, I found that the application of high-throughput proteomic analysis to a bacterial disease models could produce a significant amount of complex data. Under Dr. Harlan Caldwell’s guidance, I established foundational knowledge of human-microbial interactions through the study Chlamydia trachomatis pathogenesis while gaining deep understanding of how to perform wet lab omic analyses using mass spectrometry. During my three years at the NIH, I first-authored two publications describing a novel C. trachomatis immune avoidance mechanism and performed experiments resulting in the highest proteomic coverage of the organism to date. After departing the NIH, I began my first year as a MD/PhD student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with a desire to learn the informatic expertise required to analyze more complex omic datasets in human disease studies. By the end of my first year of medical school, I realized that my previous experience with high-throughput proteomics at the NIH was pulling me closer to a pursuit of bioinformatics and software development. As a current graduate student, I committed myself to the pursuit of a PhD in biomedical science and informatics. With the mentorship of Dr. William Byrd and Dr. Matthew Might, I am developing a skill-set in programming, data mining and clinical decision support software development at the UAB Precision Medicine Institute.