I was born in 1978 and raised near Fremantle, Western Australia. I completed my BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology at Murdoch University in 2000. I then worked as a research assistant in Patrick G Holt’s laboratory at the Telethon Kids Institute for 1.5 years, before enrolling in a PhD program in the Holt lab to study immunology and genomics. I was awarded my PhD in 2007 from the University of Western Australia. In 2008 I received postdoctoral training with Fernando D Martinez at the Arizona Respiratory Center and BIO5 Institute, the University of Arizona, which is the leading centre for paediatric asthma in the US. I returned to the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth in 2011 where I built the Systems Immunology program over the next 11 years. In October 2021, I co-founded a startup company called Respiradigm Pty Ltd. Respiradigm is developing technologies to predict at birth the propensity for a child to develop asthma. This technology will enable parents to take pre-emptive action to minimise the risk of asthma developing in their child. In November 2021, I founded a new Data Science startup - INSiGENe Pty Ltd. The value proposition of INSiGENe is the GENesis of actionable INSights to unlock disease and novel therapies. In December 2021, I relocated to the University of Arizona to accept a faculty position as Associate Professor Immunobiology (tenure-track), and Associate Research Scientist, Asthma & Airway Disease Research Center (A2DRC).
