He received a B.S. from Stanford University where he conducted research on visual attention in the laboratory of Dr. David Heeger. He earned his Ph.D. at University of California, San Diego working with Dr. Charles Stevens at the Salk Institute on synaptic vesicle recycling. He did his postdoctoral training at University of California, San Francisco with Dr. Michael Stryker studying the role of inhibition in cortical plasticity. He is a Searle Scholar, a Klingenstein-Simons Fellow and a recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. His laboratory is focused on understanding the cellular mechanisms that create critical periods in brain development.