Degrees

• B.A. University of Wisconsin (1984)
• Ph.D. Harvard University (1993)

Appointments

• Professor of Biology and Genetics
• Member, Integrative Program in Biological and Genome Sciences
• Member, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Current Service

• Director of Graduate Studies, Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology
• Senior Editor, GENETICS (Genome Integrity and Transmission
• Member, Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity study section (TWD-B), NIGMS

Research Interests

My first exposure to research was as an undergraduate (then research tech) in the lab of Julius Adler and the University of Wisconsin, where I studied chemotaxis in E. coli. When I rotated in Bill Gelbart's lab at Harvard, I became interested in chromosome structure and behavior and fell in love with Drosophila genetics. My thesis project revolved around the phenomenon transvection, which is a genetic interaction that is dependent on chromosome pairing. I carried these interests to my postdoctoral studies in Scott Hawley's lab at UC Davis, where I began to study mechanisms of meiotic recombination. I have continued these investigations in my own lab and expanded to study mechanisms of mitotic recombination and related questions.

Publications

Please see the Publications page.

Award and Honors

• Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Student and Academic Program Support (2023).
• Excellence in Basic Science Mentoring Award (2019).
• MIRA Outstanding Senior Investigator Award (2016).
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2011).
• Glenn Award for research into biological mechanisms of aging (2008).
• Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar Award (2000).
• Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund postdoctoral fellowship (1995).