Curriculum Vitae

Addiction touches nearly every family in the US, and mine was no exception. My uncle died of a heroin overdose in 1999, leaving me wondering why a person so promising would throw away his life. In college I gained other experiences with drugs, and I became increasingly interested in understanding how drugs work in the brain, and how drugs change the brain in those who become addicted. 

As a Masters student I was fortunate enough to join a lab where I asked in human subjects how dopamine is involved in cue-induced craving for cigarettes, and how alcohol and nicotine interact to influence mood and behavior. I next decided to dive deeper into the molecular neuropharmacology of addiction during my PhD and postdoctoral training, where took advantage of the fact that rats like to take addictive drugs—just like humans! I studied rat brain cell activity related to addiction vulnerability, initial drug use, and compulsive, addiction-like use. I learned to use powerful neuroscience tools like chemogenetics, viral genetic manipulations, cellular and microscopy imaging, and pharmacology to examine activity of brain cells, to control their firing and release of neurotransmitters, and to look at the patterns of activity in gene- and neural-networks that correlate with addiction-related behaviors. 

Today I run a ~10 person, NIH-funded laboratory at UC Irvine, where I am a Professor of Neurobiology & Behavior. I teach Graduate and Undergraduate courses at UCI, I have published over 60 papers in scientific journals, I am an editor of the journal Psychopharmacology, and I regularly review for Federal, State, and International granting agencies, as well as academic journals. My lab currently studies how developmental insults like early-life adversity/poverty, and adolescent drug use impact addiction vulnerability and its molecular and circuit mechanisms, and we are testing new strategies for addiction treatment including psychedelic-assisted therapy.