Research

My research experience is vast! As an undergraduate student at the University of North Alabama, my research dealt exclusively with religion as that was the main focus in the Psychology Department. For my first project as an assistant, we wanted to determine whether religious fundamentalism influenced perception of subliminal taboo images. I later headed up my own study that looked at the influence of religion on hiking and trail ethics. Although fun and a great learning experience in research, hiking is not where I wanted to continue my work.

“We use our brains to study our brains.” This quote from my undergraduate Biological Psychology professor is what initiated my interest in neuroscience. I was immediately fascinated with the fact that essentially every quality that characterizes us as human is controlled by connections that we do not even fully understand and I knew I wanted to further my career in brain research.

The specific area I wanted to investigate in neuroscience did not surface until I received an unexpected diagnosis of type I diabetes as a young adult. Through all of my research on the disease, I was introduced to a condition colloquially known as "diabulimia," wherein a person with diabetes will knowingly administer less insulin than required in order to lose weight. This made me think, "I could participate in this behavior and lose weight but I don't; so what is different about my brain and the brain of someone with an eating disorder." I now have a great desire to learn more about the neural substrates that underlie eating disorders.

This leads to my current research where I use a neuromodulation technique known as transcranial direct current stimulatio which allows us to change brain activity to help those with a variety of eating disorders.