I was born in Toronto, but raised in Edmonton. I began my university career at the University of Alberta and completed by BSc and Honours degree at Monash University in Australia. I then completed my MSc with Sergio Pellis and Ian Whishaw and my PhD back at Monash with John Nelson. I returned to Alberta as a post-doc with Doug Wylie (University of Alberta), followed by a short term fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History with Storrs Olson and Helen James. In 2008, I was hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of Lethbridge. Currently, I am an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Comparative Neuroanatomy in the Department of Neuroscience in the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience.
The primary goal of my research program is to demonstrate and understand how brain and behaviour evolve in concert with one another. Or, put another way, why do different species behave differently and how is this related to the anatomy, organization and chemistry of the brain?
To address these fundamental questions, my lab draws upon neuroscience, animal behaviour and evolutionary biology techniques to conduct both intraspecific and comparative studies. My trainees and I combine fieldwork, behavioural analyses, phylogeny-based and multivariate statistics, immunohistochemistry, multiple histological techniques, stereology, isotropic fractionation and electron, brightfield, epifluorescent and confocal microscopy to examine the relationship between brain and behaviour in birds and mammals. This has included fieldwork in Australia, Canada and Central America and involves collaborations with dozens of labs across the globe, including University of Maryland, CNRS France, Cornell University, Smithsonian Institution, Michigan State University, University of Western Australia, Stockholm University and University of Exeter.
Details of publications are provided on the tab above or check out my Research Gate profile.
