Education Ph.D., University of Cincinnati (Ohio) (2005) M.S., University of Hawaii (Manoa) (1999) B.B.A., University of Hawaii (Hawaii) (1992) Additional Training Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 2008, Psychiatry & Neuroscience Honors Fellowship, University Distinguished Graduate, 2000 - 2003 Fellowship, Albert J. Ryan Foundation, 2002 - 2004 Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, 2004 Pre-Doctoral Fellow, Training Grant in Neuroendocrinology (T32 DK-59803), 2003 - 2004 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Training Grant in Psychiatry & Neuroscience (T32 MH-15330), 2005 - 2006 K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, NIH Ethan Sims Young Investigator Award Finalist, The Obesity Society, 2007 Alan N. Epstein Research Award, Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, 2014

Our research program focuses on the developmental origins of disease. Stressors, including altered diet, psychosocial stress, immune challenge, during gestation can have adverse consequences on the intrauterine environment and increase disease susceptibility of the developing fetus. The long-term effects on offspring include greater susceptibility to psychiatric disease, such as depression and anxiety disorders, and adverse metabolic conditions including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Studies in the laboratory use rodent models and incorporate a multilevel approach to determine the behavioral, physiological, and neural correlates of disease development. Genetic and epigenetic approaches are used to further elucidate molecular mechanisms that may increase susceptibility to psychiatric disease and will facilitate development of diagnostic biomarkers and novel clinical interventions for such conditions. Another area of interest in the lab is in eating disorders. We use a rat animal model of anorexia (“activity-based anorexia”) to identify the factors that serve to perpetuate and sustain anorexia nervosa-like behavior and increase the likelihood of relapse.