She holds a doctorate in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, where she studied the haploinsufficiency of Pax genes in the lab of Shirley Tilghman. Her postdoctoral research was conducted at Stanford University with Gregory Barsh, where she used forward genetics to identify the heterotrimeric G proteins, Gnaq and Gna11, as key regulators of skin pigmentation in the mouse. Currently, her lab studies novel mouse mutants with increased or decreased numbers of pigment cells in the skin, finding roles for the mutated genes in normal development and melanoma. She is a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Career Investigator.