I am a Computational Biologist broadly interested in phylogenetics and virus evolution. I develop algorithms and theory for phylogenetic inference on massive genomic datasets. Additionally, I am interested in inferring reticulate evolution (e.g., recombination between RNA viruses) using phylogenetic networks.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at the USDA-ARS National Animal Disease Center. I model the evolution of influenza A viruses in swine and at the human-swine interface to understand the zoonotic risk associated with these viruses. I build computational tools to improve large-scale phylogenomic modeling of influenza and other organisms. Additionally, I integrate phylogenetics with machine learning to find genetic markers of the influenza A ability to jump between animal hosts (swine/avian) and humans. Understanding these host-jumping events is essential for predicting and combating future influenza pandemics.