Tell us about yourself. Where are you from, and where are you today in your timeline of professional studies?  

I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and completed my undergraduate studies at Middlebury College. After graduation, I spent a year in Boston conducting systems neuroscience research before beginning medical school at the University of Vermont. I’m now in my third year, tackling clinical clerkships. 

What brought you to the UVM Cancer Center? And who are you working with here?  

The Cancer Center and my mentor, Dr. Alissa Thomas, offered a unique opportunity to combine my interests in neuroscience and population health. We met through the Cancer Center Summer Research Fellowship and have kept up our exciting work ever since! 

Tell us about your research. What are you focused on, and what questions are you trying to answer?  

My research focuses on understanding treatment patterns and survival disparities among patients with brain metastases, particularly across rural and urban populations. I’m examining how rurality affects access to interventions such as neurosurgery, radiation, and systemic therapies—and how these factors influence outcomes. My goals are to identify actionable differences that can help improve survival and quality of life and to create more accurate tools for prognostication of brain metastases. 

What are you hoping to do after you graduate?  

I hope to pursue a career as an academic physician so that I may care for patients with complex neurological conditions, be an educator, and continue basic science and population health research.  

What is an interesting fact about you/something you would want people to know? 

My gap year research involved running mice through virtual mazes while doing live neuroimaging. Next time you see me, ask to see the pictures!