My scientific background includes three decades of experience in biochemistry and cell and molecular biology utilizing cell culture and animal models of human disease, and over two decades studying the functions of antioxidant selenoenzymes in health and disease. During my postdoctoral studies, I was first author on two publications in Nature. The seminal findings described in these publications led to my first NIH R01 grant, an appointment as Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, and issue of a US Patent. I remained on the faculty at Harvard Med for 11 years, where I obtained two additional NIH R01s and was promoted to Associate Professor. In 2002, I was recruited by the University of Hawaii, where I was tenured as a full Professor the following year. I have been continuously funded by the NIH since 1993, serving as PI on two R01s beginning in 1997 and three R01s during the period from 2000 to 2007. I served as a Charter Member of the NIH Nutrition Study Section and the Integrative Nutrition and Metabolic Processes Study Section from 2001 through 2005, as well as ad hoc on numerous study sections since 1993. Research in my laboratory currently includes mouse models with alterations in selenium metabolism, affecting antioxidant enzyme expression and resulting in metabolic syndrome and impaired neurological function. We are also investigating epigenetic changes in preeclampsia and have identified hypermethylation and hypomethylation in genes associated with cardiovascular disease-related processes.