She graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania (Clarion, PA) with a B.S. in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology, and from Duke University (Durham, NC) with a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. She completed a teaching postdoctoral position in the Biotechnology Program at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC). Her area of scientific expertise is RNA biology. Her research focuses on HIV-1 gene expression and the coupling of transcription and splicing in humans. She has taught at the college level for nine years, and is engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning.