She received her doctorate in the History of Christianity and American Religion from Harvard University in 2005. She is the author of Faith in the Great Physician: Suffering and Divine Healing in American Culture, 1860-1900 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) which was awarded the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer prize from the American Society of Church History for the best first book in the History of Christianity. Her work has also been supported by the Louisville Institute, the Young Scholars in American Religion Program, the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University, and the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals.