Photograph by Theodore Gretz
I grew up in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., before moving to Baltimore in 2003 to pursue my undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Although I originally aspired to a career in clinical psychology, my interests shifted to social neuroscience after volunteering in several psychology research labs and taking courses in neuroscience, moral philosophy, and cultural anthropology. After finishing my undergraduate degree, I looked for opportunities to develop skills that would aid me in pursuing a career in social neuroscience, particularly experience acquiring and analyzing neuroimaging data.
I was fortunate to join Professor Gwenn Smith’s laboratory studying major depressive disorder with PET and MRI and considered how I might translate my interests into clinically relevant questions about the neurobiological bases of social behavior. I found inspiration in research being conducted by Dr. Roland Zahn and Professor Rebecca Elliott on moral and social behavior and its disruption in mood disorders and was awarded a Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Manchester in February 2016 under their supervision.
In March 2016, I began as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago in the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory headed by Professor Jean Decety. We conducted research into the neurobiological basis of support for political violence. In July 2018, I joined the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics in Professor Anjan Chatterjee’s ChatLab at the University of Pennsylvania. I was an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow until August 2023 and am now a visiting researcher. My research at UPenn examines the neural basis of interactions between aesthetic evaluation and moral psychology.
Since August 2023, I have been a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. I will be teaching Research Methods and Social Psychology in 2023-2024. When I’m not working, I am typically chasing my two lovely cats, Craig (see above, black and white) and Junie (also above, redhead), around the apartment we share in West Philadelphia.