Harvard Catalyst Profiles

University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA	MD	05/2017	Medicine
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA	PhD	05/2017	Physiology and Biophysics
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA		05/2019	Internal Medicine Residency
Harvard Combined Fellowship, Boston, MA		03/2021	Pulmonary and Critical Care

My ultimate career goal is to be a physician-scientist who devotes 80% of my focus on research in my own independent lab with 20% of time dedicated to clinical care. The focus of my research is "Physiologic Regeneration". This is a fusion of my expertise developed in graduate school studying airway surface physiology with Dr. Michael Welsh and during my postdoc training on airway regeneration with Dr. Jay Rajagopal.

The overall objective of this work is to deduce, decipher and define how the airway epithelial surface restores its critical physiologic functions after severe infectious, chemical, and physical injury. By leveraging mouse genetics, stem cell biology, human and murine in vitro and ex vivo models, numerous airway surface physiology assays, and novel live microscopy techniques, I aim to dissect the pathways that become aberrant in a variety of diseases like Cystic Fibrosis, COPD, bronchiectasis, and post-viral pneumonia.

My long term goal is that upon understanding the fundamental biology that has gone awry, we will be able to identify actionable therapeutic targets to improve disease. Team Science with collaborators of various expertise is essential to this vision and a major aspect of my scientific philosophy. Through this cross-disciplinary effort we can uncover the mechanisms of disease and may be able to develop something meaningful to help improve people's lives.