I earned a B.S. in Biochemistry at California State University of Northridge and continued my undergraduate research as a master’s student in the laboratory of Dr. Mary-Patricia Stein. My master’s thesis investigated the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophilla and the protein-protein interactions between pathogen secreted effector proteins and macrophage trafficking proteins. I brought my interest in intracellular trafficking to the Dr. Jeffrey Tasker lab at Tulane University, where I earned a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology studying trafficking of adrenergic receptors as a mechanism for negative feedback of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In the Tasker lab, I developed a passion for neuroscience, specifically for stress and homeostasis. I will continue to study the effects of stress in the brain in the Maguire lab, where I will examine the changes in gene expression involved in inhibitory oscillations in the amygdala in the context of stress and epilepsy.