Undergraduate Education
B.Sc. in Bio-Medical Science (Honours)
University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 2000
Graduate Education
Ph.D.in Medical Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 2007
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, Anschutz Health and Wellness Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado
Awards
2015-Outstanding Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Colorado Nutrition Obesity Research Center
2014-Colorado Center for Women’s Health Research – Junior Faculty Research Development Award
2014-Postdoctoral Fellow of the Year, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism, University of Colorado School of Medicine
2014-Top Abstract, The Obesity Society – Obesity & Cancer Section
2014-Travel Award – Integrating Resistant Starch, Microbiome, and Disease Risk Reduction Symposium
2013-Early Career Travel Award, Endocrine Society Annual Meeting
2012-Research Recognition Award, American Physiological Society, Integrative Biology of Exercise IV Meeting
2012-Winning Poster, University of Colorado Postdoctoral Research Day
2010-Colorado Nutrition and Obesity Research Center Pilot Award
2010-American Institute for Cancer Research Fellowship
2009-Thorkildensen Research Fellowship
2009-Early Career Investigator Travel Award, Kern Aspen Lipid Conference
2009-Travel Award, FASEB Summer Research Conference – The Physiological Basis for Obesity Therapeutics
2008-University of Colorado Denver, School of Medicine Research Day 1st place – Postdoctoral Fellows Category
2006-McMaster University Department of Oncology Residents Research Day 1st place (oral)
2003-Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Research Fellowship
2003-Travel Award, Gordon Research Conference – Insulin-Like Growth Factors in Physiology & Disease, Scholar
2001-2003 -Ontario Graduate Scholarship
2000-2001-Graduate Scholarship, McMaster University
1999-Undergraduate Research Fellowship Award, University of Guelph
Research Interest
I am currently building a research program that uses an integrative, translational approach to understand the mechanisms by which obesity promotes postmenopausal breast cancers. My work focuses on understanding how the obese microenvironment, when combined with the metabolic and hormonal changes associated with menopause, promote tumor development, survival, and growth. In parallel, I am investigating the role of adipose tissue inflammation in the development of metabolic disease after menopause. My hope is that the knowledge gained from studying the ‘normal’ adipose and breast environments during menopause will also help us understand the changes that occur to create a tumor-promoting environment in the breast of obese women during this same window of time.