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Welcome! I am availabe for a new job starting early 2022.
Big picture career goal
Health and healthcare are rapidly becoming more digital. In part, this is driven by evolving sensor technology making massive amounts of increasingly precise biological data available to many. These data can help improve health at every stage of health care, including prevention, determining risk, and planning and assessing treatments in a personalized way. I'd love to be part of the movement to put those data to use and make those changes happen.
About me
I am trained as a behavioral neuroscientist and have a strong foundation in behavior, physiology, and sleep. Through my research experience, I have a deep understanding of research methods and statistics. I also have experience working with physiological data and time series to infer circadian rhythm or sleep from wrist actigraphy, infrared motion sensors, or temperature loggers. I am a self-taught data scientist with a rapidly growing experience with different machine learning algorithms.
What I am looking for
In my dream job, I'd love to apply my domain knowledge in behavior, physiology, circadian rhythms, or sleep, to find data-driven solutions in health. I could see myself working in a company in the consumer health tech domain. My expertise with biological data in combination with my passion for data-driven solutions and problem solving make me an excellent candidate to be part of a team developing science-backed health applications, including digital biomarkers, digital phenotypes, and digital therapeutics.
Current position
I am currently working as postdoctoral research scholar in the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at OHSU in the labs of Matt Butler and Chuck Allen. With my focus on circadian rhythms and specialization in behavioral neuroendocrinology, I study the interaction between the circadian and endocrine systems in the mouse.My research interests broadly include the ways the circadian system is influenced by the environment and it's two-way relationship with behavior and physiology. For me, the most exicting thing about circadian biology is that it covers the full range of biology from molecular and cell biology, to ecology and evolution, to translational and clinical relevance, and everything in between. It can be studied in a variety of model organisms including mammals such as human and mice, but also insects, plants, fungi, or bacteria. This results in a very diverse group so researchers all trying to address similar questions from a different angle, which keeps my day-to-day work and interactions very dynamic.
Besides my fundamental research with mice, I have been involved in two other projects measuring light senstivity in humans. Frist, I have developed and built a portable device to measure occular light sensitivity, using a Raspberry Pi and VR goggles. Additionally I developed an algothytm to objectively measure sensitivity to light using infrared imaging. After our validation study will be published this device can help expand research on light and pain sensitivity to a home or hospital setting.
Teaching and outreach
Because of their wide range of biological relevance, circadian rhythms are important to everyone. I believe (and with me many others) that some basic knowledge about circadian health is as important as knowing about healthy nutrition, exercise, or knowing the importance of washing your hands several times a day. Although the importance of sleep is getting more and more attention (as it should!), general knowledge of circadian health is not nearly as main stream. Researchers have become increasingly aware that it is not just important what and how much you move, eat, sleep, or get exposed to light, but that is also matters WHEN those things happen.As part of an initiative to spread the knowledge of scientists among the general public, I have been part of the BioClockStudio as a junior instructor for 3 years. The BioClockStudio is an innovative course at UC San Diego in which a small team of undergraduate students produce educational and outreach materials under the supervision of grad students, postdocs, and faculty. The BCS was made possible by an HHMI Professor Grant to Dr. Susan Golden at UC San Diego. Take a look at all the awesome tutorials and other products we have made on the BCS's website or Youtube channel!