She earned her AB in biological anthropology at Harvard and a MS in Health and Medical Sciences and medical degree in the Joint Medical Program offered by the University of California at Berkeley and UCSF. She completed an internship at Georgetown University and a neurology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she shared chief resident duties during her final year, and stayed at Johns Hopkins for a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology and epilepsy. During her fellowship, she was a volunteer to the Cognitive Neuroscience Section of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She joined the staff of UCSF Medical Center in 2002. She is board certified in neurology and clinical neurophysiology.