Dr. Cecil received her BS in Microbiology from Michigan State University in 1996. After graduation, she joined a B-cell biology lab at The Scripps Research Institute focused on rheumatologic diseases. She then moved over to the UC San Diego’s Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology Department in 2000 and worked as a technician. In 2008 she received her Ph.D. from UC San Diego in Molecular Pathology, examining the role of non-traditional inflammatory cytokines in the modulation of the pathogenesis and progression of osteoarthritis. Currently, Dr. Cecil is working with CVI on the development and characterization of peptide-specific vaccines for breast and ovarian cancers