My Education and Training
I am the product of a liberal arts education. I attended high school at St. George's College, a boarding school in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, that has recently been ranked 5th best secondary school in Africa by the African Economist magazine. The education at this school was top-notch, and was based on the renowned University of Cambridge International Examinations syllabus. After doing well in my O-Level examinations, I picked Chemistry, Biology and French for A-Levels, and these subjects became the framework of my higher education.
For my undergraduate studies I attended Benedictine College, a liberal arts institution that is highly ranked in the Midwest and which has been rated one of America’s Best by the U.S. News & World Report. A liberal arts education enabled me to pursue my love for both the sciences and the arts, as evidenced by my dual degrees in Biochemistry (B.Sc.) and French (B.A.), as well as my executive roles in diverse organizations ranging from the Chemistry Club to the Student Government Association to Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE). In my Senior year, I was hired as a teaching assistant for the Chemistry and Biochemistry department, and my duties consisted in the preparation and supervision of Organic Chemistry I and II laboratory sessions, and the grading of student assignments and quizzes. During this time, I also began tutoring and mentoring sophomore and junior students who faced challenges in organic chemistry and biochemistry courses, respectively. Furthermore, thanks to my proficiency in the French language I was hired as a full-time tutor by the foreign language department, and I spent all four years of college tutoring French. Tutoring students was one of the most satisfying experiences for me, and it is during this time that I became aware of my teaching vocation. I made the decision to pursue graduate school and applied to some of the top U.S. doctoral programs in Medicinal Chemistry. I picked the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) and in 2004 became an active member of its Pharmaceutical Sciences department, as well as the cross-disciplinary Biological Chemistry Program. I joined the laboratory of Dr. Myron K. Jacobson and spent five years conducting basic 'biochemical' research in the field of NAD metabolism and ADP-ribosylation. As a graduate teaching assistant, I proctored medicinal chemistry examinations to students in the PharmD program. I also became involved with a local, non-profit, community-based program called International Friends, Inc., which aims to bring together residents of the Tucson community with international university students for the purpose of learning about cultures, promoting solidarity, and supporting diversity. As part of this program I visited several low-income schools and taught about my Italian heritage in the form of presentations and classroom activities. For this community service I was awarded Honorary Citizenship of Tucson in 2005 by then-Mayor Robert E. Walkup. For my post-doctoral training I joined the laboratory of Dr. Frances E. Lund at the University of Rochester Medical Center (Rochester, NY). My intent was to broaden my scientific knowledge and skills, and Dr. Lund's research in target validation and in vivo immunology was the ideal platform for my professional development. So I waved goodbye to the hot Sonoran desert and said hello to the bitter cold of western New York. The change in climate was indeed a challenge, but the inclusive and supportive work environment in the Lund lab enabled me to settle in very well. |
In 2012, Dr. Lund accepted the position of Chair of the Microbiology department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). I decided to follow her to the Southeast where I have become a valuable member of her growing and well-funded laboratory. Over the past few years I have been involved in numerous research projects, and a brief description of each has been included in this portfolio. Since my appointment as an Instructor in 2016, my duties in the Lund lab have expanded to include the training and mentorship of pre- and post-doctoral scientists, to support research activities under my leadership, to contribute to the overall management of the lab, and to assist with the development and submission of applications for extramural grants. I have been appointed as an official Co-Mentor and Dissertation Committee Member of an undergraduate Honors student who will be working on his thesis project under my mentorship in the lab, and look forward to teaching courses and lectures associated with the UAB graduate, medical and undergraduate schools.