My passion for education stems from my firm belief that every student if given the proper resources and guidance can  accomplish any goal that they have for themselves. I believe that in order to be an effective educator one must also strive to be an exceptional mentor to students. My goal as an educator is to instill critical thinking skills within my students and to broaden their understanding of the world around them.

On Research

The focus of my graduate research studies was to investigate the impact of breast cancer chemotherapy-induced inflammation on the central nervous system. Although chemotherapy is an effective tool at destroying cancer it also can come with it’s fair share of unintended side effects, such as chemotherapy-Induced cognitive impairment or “chemo brain”. Chemo brain can manifest itself in a variety different ways such as difficulties in memory recall/retention, executive functioning, learning, concentration, and making decisions. There  are many plausible mechanisms for chemo brain, however one candidate mechanism is inflammation. Chemotherapy can induce inflammation within the brain and cause sustained damage to normal brain tissue. Breast cancer patients have even been reported to have high levels of inflammation as well as cognitive difficulties  as much  as 20 years after receiving chemotherapy treatment. Using mouse models, behavioral assays, and molecular techniques my goal was  to understand the biological mechanisms that cause chemo brain in order to hopefully mitigate its effects and improve the quality of life of breast cancer survivors.

Publications

• Brown, T., McElroy, T., Kiffer, F., Simmons, P., Walters, H., Ntagwabira, F., Wang, J.,  Byrum, S.D., Allen, A.R. (2021) Cognitive Impairment Resulting from Treatment with Doxorubicin, Cyclophosphamide, and Docetaxel Brain Research PMID: 33705788 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2021.147397.
• Brown, T., Sykes, D., Allen A.R., (2021) Biomedicines PMCID: PMC7917715  https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9020189.
• Newton. J*., Brown, T*., McElroy, T., Trujillo M., Ntagwabira, F. Wang, J., Byrum, S.D., Allen, A.R.  (2020) Cranial Irradiation Impairs Juvenile Social Behavior and Modulates Hippocampal Physiology. Brain Research PMCID: PMC7602883 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21051867 .(*Co-first authors)
• McElroy, T., Brown, T., Kiffer, F., Ntagwabira, F., Wang, F.,  Byr
• um, S.D., Oberley-Deegan R.E., Allen, A.R. (2020) Assessing the Effects of Redox Modifier MnTnBuOE-2-PyP 5+ on Cognition and Hippocampal Physiology Following Doxorubicin, Cyclophosphamide, and Paclitaxel Treatment Int J Mol Sci. PMCID: PMC7084440 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2020.147095.
•  Trujillo, M., McElroy, T., Brown, T., Simmons, P., Ntagwabira, F., Allen, A.R., (2021) Combined Mechanical and Enzymatic Dissociation of Mouse Brain Hippocampal Tissue. J. Vis Exp. PMID: 34747412 .
• Ntagwabira, F., Trujillo, M., McElroy, T., Brown, T., Simmons, P., Sykes, Allen, A.R., (2022) Piperlongumine as a Neuro-Protectant in Chemotherapy Induced Cognitive Impairment. Int J Mol Sci. PMCID: PMC8880369  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23042008.