Education

BS, Biomedical Sciences, Minnesota State University – Mankato
BA, German, Minnesota State University – Mankato

I grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of Lino Lakes, Minnesota.  I always thought that I would end up working in the medical field as a doctor or nurse, but when I joined a research lab during my undergraduate studies, I found that I really enjoyed it.  Thus, I decided to pursue a graduate research degree and am now part of the PhD program in Immunology at the University of Iowa.  I will be performing my thesis work in Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam’s lab, which studies the mechanisms and effects of diet and the microbiome on the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system.