Professional Certifications and Education
- Doctor of Philosophy — UAMS Graduate School, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology (2019-Present)
- Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry — Abilene Christian University (2012-2016)
Research Experience
My interest in research began during the time between undergraduate and graduate school. I volunteered in the lab of Cara Boutte, Ph.D., at the University of Texas at Arlington, studying the cell wall of Mycobacterium abscessus. Prior to my time in the lab, I worked as a medical scribe for an orthopedic, spine, and pain management clinic. This experience established my passion for opioid research.
I am a NIDA T32-sponsored doctoral candidate in the lab of Lisa Brents, Ph.D. Our primary focus is prenatal opioid exposure. In collaboration with Michael Berquist, Ph.D., we are combining rat models of early life adversity and prenatal opioid exposure to study their effects on alcohol consumption and opioid-induced antinociception later in life. We are also investigating their effects on alpha adrenoceptor expression in the brains of adolescent rats.