How did your career path lead you to Duke?

I’ve always been interested in science, but I had no idea what graduate school or a PhD was until I went to college at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. While there, I joined the NIH-RISE program and the NSF-COMPASS programs, both of which exposed me to a variety of scientific careers. As an undergraduate student, I worked in Dr. Conner Sandefur’s lab researching the antibiotic and medicinal properties of teas traditionally used by the people of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. This experience along with multiple summer research experiences further cultivated my love of microbiology and encouraged me to pursue my doctoral degree at Emory University in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (MMG) program. While there, I worked in Dr. Shonna McBride’s lab studying the anaerobic gastrointestinal pathogen Clostridioides difficile, specifically characterizing the Prokaryotic 5-oxoprolinase ABC (PxpABC) protein functions. We determined that these proteins function primarily as a 5-oxoprolinase, and that C. difficile utilizes 5-oxoproline as a nutrient source. Overall, my graduate school experiences both in and out of lab inspired me to continue pursuing academic research in molecular genetics and microbiology as a postdoctoral associate.

On a personal note, I have always been interested in studying pathogenic organisms. I have multiple people with compromised immune systems in my family and having seen the havoc that fungal and antibiotic-resistant infections can wreak upon an individual greatly fuels my desire to learn more about these organisms to help fight such ruthless infections. I love the work that I do, and knowing that the knowledge I uncover can save the lives of loved ones inspires the work I do every day.