10km view:
I engineer pharmacologic solutions to calcific diseases.
10nm view:
Currently, I am a Senior Fellow at the University of Washington working under the direction of Cecilia Giachelli. The research in the Giachelli lab is directed at developing solutions for vascular calcification, which is the number one cause of mortality among chronic kidney disease patients. Being a part of this research team is really exciting to me because it represents an enormous human health problem with potential solutions that are technically interesting, and (I believe) clinically achievable.
My doctoral degree was completed at the Mayo Clinic within Michael Yaszemski's orthopedic research laboratory. Because of this, I have five years of experience in fundamental / applied pharmacology studying the interaction between DNA damaging chemotherapies and Wnt signaling mechanics in bone-forming cancers. Those skills have been pretty handy for studying pathologic calcification in models of CKD.
On occasion, I write fairly opinionated blog format articles about science and health (opinions which I feel both required and qualified to have). Some of those blogs can be seen here.