She received her doctorate degree through the Interdepartmental Nutrition Program in the Department of Nutrition Science at Purdue University where she developed a strong background in geriatric nutrition and the mechanisms underlying aging skeletal muscle. She continued her research training as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Aging Translational Research Program and the Center for Exercise Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her research program at Cornell is currently focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle deterioration and the development of metabolic disease with a particular focus on the dynamics between inflammation and metabolism.