Program: Experimental Medicine
I have always been interested in human health and disease. I learned in undergrad that the immune system is involved in most diseases so I was motivated to learn more. This drew me to the field of clinical immunology and inborn errors of immunity where I have been studying how single gene mutations can impair the immune system and greatly increase a person’s susceptibility to infection, autoimmunity, cancer, and allergic disease. By studying these genes, we can then greatly improve our understanding of their role in the human immune system.
I have really enjoyed being able to work together with researchers and clinicians from diverse disciplines to understand how disease arises in each patient we study. Being able to inform the treatment of patients has been very rewarding. For me, my favourite moment at UBC was when I did a critical experiment that strongly demonstrated a functional defect associated with a genetic defect.
Make sure you make time for yourself so you don’t burn yourself out. Do things you enjoy and it’s okay to take a weekend off!
I love kayaking and exploring around B.C.’s coast and waters.
I have continued on as a post-doctoral fellow in my lab to finish up some work and will likely be pursuing another post-doc somewhere in the U.S.