Alicia graduated from Emory University in May of 2020 with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. As an undergraduate, she worked in the lab of Dr. David Katz investigating the role of the histone demethylase LSD1 in tau-mediated neurodegeneration. During a semester abroad in Australia in 2019, Alicia worked in the lab of Dr. Erica Fletcher in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, studying the role of adaptive immunity in exudative age-related macular degeneration. Upon returning to the States for her final year of undergrad, Alicia completed her honors thesis in the Katz lab, for which she earned Highest Honors. After graduation, she joined Dr. Beth Stevens’ lab at Boston Children’s Hospital as a Research Assistant, where she worked for two years alongside postdoctoral fellow Dr. Yvanka de Soysa. Their project investigates microglia state dynamics and function in early neurodevelopment and neurological disease. Alicia joined the University of Utah Neuroscience PhD program in August 2022 and is currently completing the first-year curriculum and rotations. Her research interests include cellular and molecular neurobiology, particularly in disease models, with the goal of leveraging basic science to begin to uncover translatable mechanisms. Outside of lab, Alicia loves to travel, paint, spend time outdoors, and go to bar trivia.