The problem? Lots of chemicals are in our environment. Some are neutral, some definitely bad. 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 a variety of chemical classes and their effects on the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. I predominantly use in vitro (cell culture) models in my research as non-animal alternatives, although some work uses zebrafish.


I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in Pharmacology (concentration: Molecular and Environmental Toxicology) at Wayne State University School of Medicine. I'm conducting my dissertation in the laboratory of Dr. Chris Kassotis, an expert on environmental endocrine disruptive mixtures and in vitro models for cardiometabolic disease.