She obtained her PhD in Chemistry in 2003 from the University of Alberta, before continuing research at Harvard Medical School and the University of Michigan as the John G. Searle Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. She is an Associate Editor for MedChemComm and on the editorial boards of Journal of Biological Chemistry and ACS Infectious Diseases. Her research focuses on understanding enzyme mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis of antibiotics and anticancer agents, and the development of new molecules to combat bacterial/fungal resistance and neurodegenerative disorders.