I am a Research Career Scientist awardee at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and hold a dual appointment as a Professor (with tenure) in the Department of Anesthesiology at UCSD. I have two decades of experience testing AAV-mediated gene therapy technologies and interventions that afford neuroprotection against trauma and neurodegenerative disease models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). I research caveolin, a scaffolding protein in membrane/lipid rafts (MLRs), that regulates synaptic signaling and neuroplasticity in neuronal models (human neurons derived from iPSCs, animal models of neurodegeneration such as AD and ALS).  I continue to mentor undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, VA CDA awardees, anesthesia residents, and visiting international scholars. In 2012, I was bestowed the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) through the Department of Veterans Affairs.