Professional Title:
Professor, Department of Molecular Cell Biology
Email:
Bio:
My research is consistently focused on overcoming the health disparities that result from antibiotic resistance. As a founding faculty member at UC Merced, our mission has been to build the Central Valley of California through the University. We have a community that is eager to participate in research and I have leveraged their support to conduct innovative research that would be difficult to carry out elsewhere. My overarching research goal has been to maximize the reliability with which off patent antibiotics can be used so that we can be continuously assured of low-cost treatment options for infectious bacteria. The Merced community has facilitated this goal by providing me access to patient samples and records and through generous donors that who have funded the expense to the hospital lab for doing this. This access has given me tremendous opportunity to really address what is happening to allow antibiotic resistance to evolve. These opportunities have been fruitful; with little expense, I have been able to push the limits of what is known about resistance. I am recognized for my novel perspective and help redirecting research in this area to clinically meaningful directions.