He received his PhD in 2002 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Michael Karin at the University of California, San Diego until 2011. He was a recipient of several fellowships and awards, such as postdoctoral fellowship from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, K99/R00 NCI NIH career development grant, W.E. Lower prize for the best publication at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Oxygen Club California BASF Young Investigator Award. He established his own laboratory in 2011.