Sr. CRA since 2020. Training CRAs, report review. Monitoring of Phase I-IV clinical research studies to ensure the integrity of the drug development process, including patient safety, Good Clinical Practices (GCP), data management, and regulatory adherence.

Developing novel animal models to study drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, particularly alcohol vapor kinetics

• Independent research on the neuropharmacology and neuroimmunology of drug abuse and addiction. • Dissertation on the role of the neuroimmune system on alcohol intake. Also investigated how alcohol-induced endorphin release (i.e. “runner’s high”) increases dopamine levels in the brainand evaluated how an FDA-approved drug (naltrexone) impacts dopamine release.• Extensive coursework and practicum in communication skills. Also gave lectures to undergraduate and graduate students, presented my research at international conferences including 2 invited seminars.• Trained and supervised 18 undergraduate researchers (2 semester minimum per student). Also trained other graduate students, postdocs, and a visiting professor, in the theory and techniques used in the lab.• Multi-year project management skills including grant administration, regulatory compliance, budget and purchasing oversight, personnel, equipment maintenance, and IT.• Non-degree coursework in pharmaceutical disciplines, ethics, and grantsmanship.• Lab management skills including regulatory compliance, budget oversight, equipment maintenance, and IT.• Steered the lab in a new direction by incorporating neuroimmunological theory and techniques.• Designed, built, developed, and validated new experimental techniques and behavioral models.• Collaborated with other laboratories on campus to perform an experiment involving the in vivo optogenetic manipulation of dopamine neurons and simultaneous dopamine analysis.• Peer review of manuscripts

• Worked with top psychiatrists in the clinical research center to determine individualized genetic contributions to alcohol intake and subjective effects of alcohol - such as GABA(A) receptor gene variations and neurosteroid biosynthetic enzyme gene variations - and to target treatments for patients with these gene variations.

• Compared Wistar Kyoto, Wistar, Sprague Dawley, and Brown Norway rats in their polymorphisms of CRHR1 and measured CRHR1 mRNA levels in various brain regions, both as molecular correlates of stress-induced alcohol intake.• Performed behavioral assays in rodent models of PTSD.

• Investigated the mechanisms of adenosine antagonists as novel therapeutic compounds for the treatment of extrapyramidal symptoms caused by antipsychotics or Parkinson’s Disease. Similarly, used adenosine agonists to develop animal models of extrapyramidal symptoms or for use as antipsychotics.• Analyzed novel cannabinoids using behavioral assays in animal models.