The problem? Lots of chemicals are in our environment. Some are neutral, some bad, many undetermined. Some are put there by human activity, others occur naturally. We (humans) and other living things are constantly exposed to these chemicals, sometimes at low, consistent levels, sometimes at high, acute levels. However, regardless of how the chemicals arrived, there are MANY in the environment - and we're exposed to them simultaneously. 

My research attempts to tackle questions of how these chemical mixtures differ in their effects from single chemical exposures. I'm particularly interested in waterborne exposures of environmental metals and their effects on the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. Epidemiological studies strongly suggest that metal mixtures exacerbate various cardiovascular diseases and pathologies, including congenital heart defects, heart failure, hypertension, and arrhythmias. The epidemiological relationships are so striking that the American Heart Association even issued a concensus statement on "environmental metal cardiology" in 2023. However, little is known about how these mixtures induce adverse cardiovascular outcomes, when these effects are programmed throughout the lifespan, and if inappropriate endocrine action contributes.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan. In the lab of Dr. Laurie Svoboda, I'm building a research program studying how environmental metal mixtures affect heart muscle development and function. Keeping with my interests in non-rodent models, my research uses induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) as well as zebrafish models to better understand the molecular, cellular, physiological, and epigenetic effects of metal mixtures on the heart. I hope to be a leader at the interface of environmental toxicology, cardiovascular sciences, and molecular endocrinology. I'm currently supported by an NHLBI-funded T32 in Cardiovascular Medicine at UM.

Previously, I completed my Ph.D. in Pharmacology (concentration: Molecular and Environmental Toxicology) at Wayne State University School of Medicine. I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Christopher Kassotis, an expert on environmental endocrine disruptive mixtures and new approach methods (NAMs) for endocrine and metabolic toxicology. My dissertation assessed the endocrine, metabolic, and developmental effects of oil and gas-associated metal mixtures and artificial turf leachates. Thus, my Ph.D. set the baseline for my thinking about chemical mixtures, environmental relevance, hormone receptors, and NAMs that will manifest in my reseach program.