As an RNA biochemist, I am driven by questions that underlie how human messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are controlled to determine when, where, and how much of a protein to synthesize. Dysregulated protein synthesis is a near universal feature of cancer, broadly implicated in disease, and a hallmark of infections. I therefore integrate biochemical, single-molecule, biophysical, structural, molecular biology, and systems-level strategies to examine the dynamic interplay between the mRNA, the translation initiation machinery, and regulatory proteins that defines the efficiency of translation. My goal is to enhance understanding of how cells function and help lay the groundwork for the development of new therapeutics.https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DcnxpxYAAAAJ&hl=en