I graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2001 with degrees in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery and Neuroscience. After spending two years working as a veterinary surgeon for the PDSA I returned to study as an MRC 1+3 student at the SGDP Centre. During my PhD I worked with the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), looking at imitation and social development in young twins with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Following my PhD I was an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, undertaking a project looking at imitative behaviours in adults with ASD, and then worked on a NIHR funded project evaluating diagnostic protocols for adolescents and adults with ASD. I was the project coordinator for the TS 2000 Study, the first UK prospective longitudinal study of the genetic disorder Tuberous Sclerosis (TS), looking at behavioural and cognitive outcomes in children and young adults with TS. 

I am also interested in the association between cruelty to animals and family violence. I worked with the E-Risk Study, and received funding from the RSPCA, to ask if childhood cruelty to animals is a marker for child maltreatment. I carried out a placement in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) as an MRC Fellow, producing a briefing document for parliamentarians on the topic of animal cruelty, child abuse and domestic violence, and have provided overviews of this subject for a number of organisations.