Cathy received a BS in Microbiology from Iowa State University. She then pursued graduate studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with Dr. Bill Britt, where she investigated the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying altered cerebellar development and hearing loss during mouse cytomegalovirus infection in newborn mice, a model for congenital human cytomegalovirus infection. After earning her PhD, she expanded her research focus to additional models and mechanisms of hearing loss during her postdoctoral training with Dr. Lisa Cunningham at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she studied the roles of macrophages in a clinically relevant mouse model of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. These studies laid the foundation for her research program as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Iowa, where she is excited to investigate the immune mechanisms underlying ototoxic drug–induced hearing loss and to develop therapeutic strategies to prevent hearing loss.

What do you enjoy doing outside of research?

Cathy enjoys singing, participating in a community choir, playing with her three cats, and watching her pet snake, Bowie.