I am a junior investigator focused on the study of the biology and development of novel therapies of myeloid

disease. To that end, I have worked under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Savona, Professor of Medicine and

Cancer Biology, Chief, Malignant Hematology, Cellular Therapy, and Stem Cell Transplantation. My work has

focused on an understanding of how novel therapeutic agents are developed and tested in the laboratory in order

to design thoughtful, mechanistic-driven therapies for patients in clinical trials. My ultimate goal is to translate my

understanding of biologic mechanisms of pathophysiology to pediatric oncology. I have built a strong foundation

of pharmacology, molecular genetics and data analysis. I have used these skills to learn how to test novel

pharmacologic agents in meaningful murine models, specifically patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models which

are the gold standard for the study of leukemia and MDS. My work with targeted therapies and murine models

for myeloid disease led to the opportunity to collaborate with two important basic scientists at Vanderbilt

University, Drs. Stephen Fesik and William Tansey, studying novel inhibitors of WDR5. This work set the stage

for my current research that focuses on ribosome pathophysiology critical to bone marrow failure syndromes in

children and myelodysplasia in adults. The next step in my career trajectory is to further my research in myeloid

disease, with a longer-term career goal of investigations centered on the development of novel therapies for

myeloid disease.