She teaches two courses at Duke in the area of the neuropharmacology of drug addiction: “Drugs and the Law” and “Reward and Addiction.” Her past research has explored the underlying causes of adolescent vulnerability to drug addiction using rodent models. Her current interests include raising public awareness about addiction in efforts to help create effective public policy. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from N.C. State University in 1994 and her doctoral degree in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University in 2000.