She obtained her BS undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Texas A&M University and a combined MD/PhD degree from UT Southwestern, where she completed her graduate training in the laboratory of Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Helen Hobbs in Molecular Genetics before joining the faculty of UT Southwestern in 2005. Her laboratory focuses on defining the genetic determinants of adult-onset pulmonary disease. She is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.