My long-standing interest is in neural plasticity. I enjoy using multidisciplinary techniques and investigating problems across several levels of structure. I have been at the NIH since 1987. I established the Neurocytology and Physiology Unit at NIH in 1994 and the Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity in 2001. The NIH is a fantastic place for basic research. It offers a vigorous intellectual environment and excellent resources, helping research move quickly and stay at the leading edge.

My undergraduate training was at UC Berkeley. In graduate school at the University of California, San Diego, my training bridged two Departments: the Neurosciences Group, headed by Dr. Theodore Bullock at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; and the Neurosciences Department at UCSD Medical School, where Dr. Mark Ellisman was my graduate advisor. My Ph.D. research concerned structural and functional plasticity of ribbon synapses.

Before entering the Ph.D. program, I received an M.A. degree in Marine Biology from San Jose State University, for research on electroreception in ratfish (hydrolagus colliei) conducted at Moss Landing Marine Labs, in Monterey. After receiving a Ph.D. degree, I took postdoctorial appointments at Stanford University, Yale, and NIH, receiving training from Dr. Jeff Kocsis, Dr. Stephen Waxman, and Dr. Phillip Nelson. These postdoctoral experiences taught me many techniques, including electrophysiology, electron microscopy, digital imaging, and cell culture, and they developed my interest and knowledge of activity-dependent plasticity in the nervous system. I currently serve as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuron Glia Biology, and as a member of the editorial board of Neuroscience Letters, and The Neuroscientist.