I received my PhD in Neuroscience in 2014 in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Nestler at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where I studied how chronic exposure adverse environmental stimuli such as stress or drugs of abuse led to long term transcriptional and chromatin changes that disrupt normal reward circuitry. I then went on to complete my postdoctoral training with Dr. Oliver Hobert, where using the model organism C. elegans, I examined the transcriptional programs that underlie the temporal maturation of post-mitotic nervous system during post-embryonic development.

I established the Sun Lab at UAB in Oct 2021. The long-term goal of my research program is to understand how adverse gene-environment interaction impacts nervous system development and function and its implications in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.

As an LGBTQ+ immigrant growing up in Canada, I recognize the important roles that opportunity and the fantastic mentorships I received throughout my scientific training played to allow me to pursue my dream career of academic research. I hope to pay this forward to the next generation of science trainees by establishing an inclusive and fun lab environment where rigorous science is conducted.