After graduating from Case Western Reserve University (BA majoring in Music and Earth Science) and then attaining a molecular biology laboratory technician certificate at San Diego State University, I joined UCSD as a Staff Research Associate in 1990. Until 2009 I worked in labs mostly focused on HIV research, passing through four different UC campuses (UCSD, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Francisco and UC Davis). Following a three year hiatus to pursue non-work related interests, including international travel, living in Colombia and studying Spanish there, and long distance hiking, mostly in the Sierras, I returned to UCSD, joining the Systems Biology Research Group in 2013.