I was born and raised in Massachusetts, living in Worcester and then Newton until I went to college at The State University of New York at Albany where I got a B.S. in Biology. I was always fascinated with science, specifically animals, and I got a lot of varied research experience working with fruit flies, pigeons and rats. I spent a year in South Africa living in a game reserve as part of an interdisciplinary research team studying social behavior and learning in vervet monkeys. I followed a single of group monkeys every day from sunrise and sunset where I learned to recognize each individual and tracked all their behaviors as well as assisted graduate students with experiments. After returning home, I worked as the lab manager for the Jane Goodall Research Center in the Evolutionary Anthropology Department here at Duke.
Through working with students in the lab and also at Duke TIP, I started developing an interest in education. I taught 8th grade science for a year and then spent a number of years supporting medical residents at Duke Hospital, working on projects related to resident wellness and recruitment of underrepresented minority residents. I moved into my role as Assistant Director of Cardea in November 2021 and I’m excited to be back on the university side working with students again and supporting them on their way to whatever their goals are.
In my free time, I enjoy hiking, camping, playing board games, watching movies and petting my neighborhood cats with my wife Lauren.
