My current research addresses fundamental questions about the evolution of parasite avoidance behavior. I combine theoretical approaches with empirical ones, using Caenorhabditis elegans and Serratia marcescens as a model host-parasite system.

I am broadly interested in the interactions between animal behavior and infectious disease. Trained as a behavioral ecologist, I embarked on research seeking to understand the variation and drivers of animal behavior in natural systems. My primary research focus has been to understand how animals use behavior to mediate their exposure to disease risk. Recently, I have expanded this focus to include integrating behavioral avoidance of parasites and pathogens with broader concepts in disease ecology and evolutionary theory. My research experience has spanned a variety of disciplines, systems, and methodologies.

C. elegans nematodes crawl through a lawn of the red-pigmented pathogenic bacterium S. marcescens.

I am currently supported by an NRSA F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship from the NIH. I am co-advised by Mandy Gibson and Janis Antonovics in the Department of Biology at the University of Virginia. 
​
Education:
​PhD, Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University - 2019; Advisor: Charlie Nunn 
BS, Animal Science, Cornell University - 2012; Independent Research Advisor: Walter Koenig