I am a trainee endocrinologist and aspiring physician scientist. I am interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive cardiometabolic disease and using this information to develop new treatments for the patients I care for.

Studying the mechanisms of human disease is challenging. Cellular and animal models often fail to faithfully recapitulate the complexity of human physiology and disease.  Even well-conducted observational epidemiology is subject to reverse causation which can undermine its conclusions.

Human genetics circumvents some of the limitations of observational epidemiology: as germline genetic variants are fixed at conception it is not subject to reverse causation and is less susceptible to confounding. As such, if you can confidently link a genetic variant associated with a disease to gene function then you can establish a causal relationship between that gene and your disease of interest.

My work uses these 'molecular clues' from human genetics to inform mechanistic work in cells, animals and in humans. Working with a large network of excellent colleagues and collaborators, I have used this approach to provide novel insights into the pathophysiology of pregnancy sickness, type 2 diabetes and liver disease.

My current research seeks to extend this paradigm to identify novel mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and diabetes-related complications. I am uniquely positioned to deliver this given my broad-based training in clinical medicine, genetic epidemiology and cellular and animal models of disease.