I am a PhD candidate working on the intersection between mitochondria and immunity in the context of IBD under the supervision of Tim Shutt and Derek McKay at the University of Calgary. I graduated from the Bachelor of Health Sciences program with a major in biomedical sciences and a minor in bioinformatics from the University of Calgary, where I completed an honours project in Tim Shutt's lab studying the role of mitochondrial dynamics and hearing loss in rare genetic variants. This sparked my interest in basic science research and along with my personal interest in IBD due to being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at age 10, drove me to pursue further graduate training. In addition, I'm actively involved in the IBD community, and I volunteer with Crohn's and Colitis Calgary as the co-programs and education lead. In my free time I enjoy reading and top rope climbing.