I am a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Toronto, in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. I am co-supervised by Nicole Mideo and Matt Osmond.
In my work, I combine mathematical modeling, comparative genomics, simulation-based inference, and other tools to answer questions in evolutionary genetics, ecology, and epidemiology. My interests include zoonotic spillover emergence, i.e., the process by which animal pathogens jump species boundaries to infect and transmit between humans; causes and consequences of variation in recombination; viral genome evolution; and inference from genomic data. My current work combines several of these interests. For example, in one of my PhD chapters, I develop theory to predict in what host taxa (e.g., short- vs long- lived species) recombination between pathogen genotypes is most extensive, and test predictions of the theory using HPAI sequence data. In another, I develop a null model for the evolution of the recombination landscape (i.e., the probability distribution of crossovers along a focal chromosome) and use this theory to make inferences about processes which have given rise to present-day flowering plant recombination landscapes. Outside of science, I enjoy podcasts, spending time outdoors, cooking, and exploring the many neighborhoods of Toronto!
If you want to learn more about me or what I am up to, shoot me an email or check out my CV!
