He received his PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Emory University. His research has focused on developing genetic approaches to identify genes involved in human diseases and exploring the molecular function of those genes. While a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Genetics at Yale University, he held fellowships with both the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Cancer Institute. His publications include articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Genetics, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, and PLoS One. Dr. Cornett teaches Genetics, Health Perspectives: Cancer, Cellular and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Science and Scripture, and Physical Chemistry Research.