Elizabeth Fernandez is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. She received her B.S in Neuroscience and Molecular Biology from the University of Arizona where she worked with Dr. Theodore Trouard and helped develop a method of opening up the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) using microbubbles and focused ultrasound. In the following year she worked with Dr. William Banks studying the effects of inflammation on the BBB. In the Nathanson Lab, she is currently investigating the molecular signaling pathways that control cell death in malignant glioma to better understand the refractory nature of these universally lethal tumors.