I am a PGY-3 psychiatry resident excited to be part of the PSTP at MGH-McLean! I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and attended Michigan State University for my undergraduate, doctoral, and medical degrees. My PhD thesis focused on neural circuits that coordinate feeding behavior with energy expenditure, and how disruption of these circuits leads to obesity or eating disorders. To accomplish this, I utilized DREADD technology in mice along with a variety of behavioral assays, metabolic phenotyping, and microscopy, to understand how manipulation of distinct neural circuits alters feeding and physical activity.
Through my graduate work, I became broadly interested in understanding how specific neural circuits drive behavior and how technology such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used in novel ways to correct circuit abnormalities in psychiatric disease. As a PSTP resident, I plan to continue pursuing basic science research focusing on neural circuits that drive consumption of food and addictive drugs.
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