She received her AB in Biology from Harvard University and her MD from Stanford University. After completing her internship at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, she moved to New York City where she completed a neurology residency and epilepsy fellowship at Columbia University. She then joined the faculty at Columbia, dividing her time between the Columbia Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and Harlem Hospital, where she cared for underserved adult and pediatric patients with epilepsy. She joined the UCSF faculty in 2006.