Staff member profile featured in the spring 2025 issue of the department’s equity, diversity, and inclusion newsletter.

Tell us about yourself including nationality, ethnicity, culture.

My dad, like me, was one of us few who were born and raised in Seattle. His ancestry is German and Irish. My mom is from southern California originally, but her grandfather immigrated from Lebanon. Her mother's parents were Austrian.

How did you come to be associated with the dept of Biostatistics?

I have a pattern in my life of sticking with work that starts as temporary, but because it is so interesting I stick with it for a very long time. My background before joining the Biostatistics department was in informal science education at the Pacific Science Center. My work there started as a summer job right out of high school, continued through undergrad at UW, and turned into a 16-year career there that fostered my love for science, education, and life-long learning. I went back to school to get a certificate in web development to increase my technical skills, and the combination of both landed me work here as a temp. Again, the job in Biostatistics, involving both web development and science communication, was too interesting and felt too important to stop, and I've worked with largely the same team in Biostatistics for nearly 9 years.

Tell us something we’d be surprised to know about?    

When 3-D printers started becoming a thing you could have in your home, I got into designing and printing objects. Some of my designs are for things that I now use every day such as a custom joystick for my power wheelchair, and an assistive fork holder that allows me to eat independently despite having a physical disability that limits my range of motion. 3-D printing was perfect to meet these needs because the designs needed to be so tailored to my abilities and physicality. Other designs are more closely aligned with my space and sci-fi interests, such as a model of the Mars Curiosity Rover or a Warp Core Table Lamp. I share many of my designs online, and both of those have been printed by people around the world, which has been really fun to see.

What motivates you?

I have two wonderful kids that motivate me to keep learning and growing, if only to stay ahead of them for a few more years! Kids learn so quickly, and go about learning in a rigorous and unrelenting way. Seeing them overcome obstacles and grow daily makes me proud of them, and keeps me wanting to provide opportunities for them to explore, create, and connect with others.

Who/what has inspired you the most and why?

Star Trek, in all its incarnations, has inspired me throughout my whole life. From its appreciation for science and commitment to reasoning through problems, to its optimistic view of a future where great value is placed on forming teams of people of diverse backgrounds and opinions to work together, to its strong moral compass, Star Trek has portrayed a future that I aspire to help create. It has also led me to participating in a theater group to perform live episodes of the show (I played Scotty!), a long interest in space travel and astronomy, and many great friendships.

What three words would you use to describe yourself?

Curious, solution-oriented, kind.