As an independent research physiologist, my early professional career has involved studies that examine the body’s natural response to trauma, in an attempt to understand and recapitulate successful healing responses. My primary scientific interests are translational in nature, and include the role of fluid resuscitation in organ (dys)function and inflammation, burn wound healing and diagnosis, and the role of the microbiome on physiological homeostasis. My doctoral studies were performed at the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine and examined successful, age-dependent, regeneration of the urinary bladder after surgical trauma. My interest in military medicine began at the US Army Institute for Surgical Research where I completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship examining burn trauma and wound healing strategies. There, I became interested in critical care, and the use of resuscitative fluids to treat different types of trauma, which was supported by an award through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. With infectious complications at the crux of outcomes in burn and other forms of trauma, I have interest in the exciting world of the microbiome on skin and within the gut. In short, my career thus far has revolved around translational research by studying natural (patho)physiologic consequences, and therapies to recapitulate beneficial responses, and circumvent aberrant ones.