Her lab studies sensory neural circuits in free-living and parasitic nematodes, with an emphasis on how parasitic worms use sensory cues to locate hosts to infect. Dr. Hallem received a B.A. in biology and chemistry from Williams College, and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Yale University. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech, she joined the UCLA faculty in 2011. Dr. Hallem is the recipient of a 2015 Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Disease Award, a 2013 McKnight Scholar Award, a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2012 Searle Scholar Award, a 2011 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and a 2011 Rita Allen Foundation Fellowship.