Her doctorate is in Developmental Psychology. Her training included an NIDA-funded doctoral project examining parental monitoring and adolescent risk behaviors including substance use and unprotected sexual risk. She is a Co-Principal Investigator for the WVU Prevention Research Center and the Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Pediatrics.Her current research interests examine parental influences on child and adolescent health risk decision making and behaviors. She is the Principal Investigator for the Marion County, WV location of the National Children's Study and a co-investigator on an AFRI-funded grant examining the impact of obesity on preschool children. She is currently conducting a clinical translational project examining the association between asthma and obesity among WV children.