I received my BS in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis and my PhD in Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis from Emory University. After my PhD, I worked for 8 years in research into cytomegaloviruses at the University of California, San Diego and The Scripps Research Institute. While I enjoyed research immensely, I was more of a people person than many of the researchers around me I enjoyed interacting with people, explaining the science behind my research and answering questions more than I did the actual benchtop experiments. In 2007 I began teaching night classes at San Diego City College, where I fell in love with teaching. I immediately saw that teaching is not just explaining something (that is just talking!) - teaching is what happens when students have questions. Teaching is what happens when students don't follow your explanation and you have to answer the question using a different approach. I now am employed full time as an Associate Professor. My approach to teaching is to use techniques that involve a minimum of me giving long explanations and maximize students asking questions and performing activities that help them master the material at hand. I also firmly believe that it is my job to bring in real-world applications of concepts that will help the student to appreciate concepts from many different angles.

I currently teach undergraduate general cell biology, microbiology, animal and plant diversity, anatomy and physiology, as well as graduate level cell biology. What I do outside of academics: I have two young children, two microscopes in my kitchen (that get used a lot) and a closet full of camping gear that gets used quite a bit that gives you a pretty good picture of my interests!