She completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering as a Medical Physics Trainee at the University of Wisconsin under the direction of Dr. Paul Campagnola and a postdoc in Biophotonics at Vanderbilt University under the guidance of Dr. Melissa Skala. At the University of Maine, Dr. Tilbury is continuing her work in 2-photon microscopy techniques to understand the interplay between the extracellular matrix and cellular metabolism. Additionally, she is actively involved in STEM education at the P-16 levels.