About

My full CV is available here.

Background

I received my PhD in History and Philosophy of Science in 2017 from ASU, in which I investigated the history of the intersection of development and evolution within research on mammalian teeth. I spent a Fulbright year with the evolutionary phenomics laboratory of Jukka Jernvall at the University of Helsinki. During my PhD studies, I managed the MBL History Project, wrote and edited for the Embryo Project Encyclopedia, worked as a Project Coordinator for the Center for Biology and Society at ASU for four years, and was the developing editor for Harvard University Press for Lucie Laplane’s book, Cancer Stem Cells: Philosophy and Therapies. Prior to pursuing my doctorate, I earned an MPhil in Human Evolutionary Studies from the University of Cambridge in 2010, where I attended as a Gates Scholar, and a BPhil in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009, where I also earned a minor in German Studies and a certificate in the Conceptual Foundations of Medicine (HPS).

My Research

The driving theme of my research in the history and philosophy of science is excavating the assumptions ingrained within scientific practice and explanations, and turning them into a tool to transform and accelerate scientific research.

My latest research project has a two-fold focus. First, I am interested in how the germline has been conceived and investigated, and how our perception of the germline influences discussions and research on human genome editing. I collaborate with MBL Hibbitt Fellow, Duygu Özpolat, on all aspects of this germline and genome editing research. Second, I am interested in how scientists have defined and approached the study of regeneration–a phenomenon that can be found playing out throughout the entire span of complex living systems, from microbial communities, to organisms, to ecosystems.