What are some of the steps you took in life or influences that brought you to your current area of research?
I’ve wanted to be a scientist since I was a little kid. My parents had an exhibitor booth at the annual Society for Neuroscience conference and they would take me and my younger brother with them, for our family “vacation”. While there, I learned that scientists and professors weren’t these scary, intimidating individuals; they were silly, kind, interesting people who let me ask them a million questions and encouraged my curiosity. I knew I wanted to be one of them when I grew up. Although I knew what I wanted to be, I took a somewhat windy path to end up studying the particular research questions I investigate now.