She earned a BA from Smith College in 1999, an MA in art history from the University of Maryland in 2001, and a PhD in art history from Johns Hopkins University in 2008. While working on her PhD, she spent two years in residence at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, supported by a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship (2005-2007), and after completing her PhD, she held an Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellowship at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (2009-2011). Before coming to MCA, she taught courses at a number of colleges and universities in the Baltimore/DC area and was a visiting assistant professor of medieval art at the University of Kansas (2011-2014).