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I am a veterinarian focused on comparative medicine, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSD with training in retrovirology, immunology, and epigenetics. I have a strong interest in the “One Health” philosophy, which espouses that cross-talk between the human and animal medical professions will help to advance both fields. My original research focus was on understanding the pathogenicity of retroviruses in wildlife species, particularly in cetaceans. However, I turned my attention to the fields of epigenetics and immunology with the perspective that I could apply what I learned about these processes to our understanding of how they impact retroviral latency and reactivation in multiple species, allowing us to decipher their pathogenic potential. In humans, it is well established that people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART) will maintain persistent reservoirs of the HIV provirus, and elucidating the epigenetic processes guiding persistence and reactivation will allow us to develop more effective strategies for eliminating this reservoir. I am currently using cutting-edge epigenomics assays, including single cell strategies, to evaluate the chromatin conformation and epigenetic modifications of both the human genome in the context of HIV infection and the HIV provirus itself to study HIV persistence in tissues.