Kirsten earned her B.S. in Chemical Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the University of Southern California-Buck Biology of Aging PhD program, she worked on ameliorating age-related cognitive decline and understanding muscle stem cells and muscle regeneration under the mentorship of Dr. Saul Villeda and Dr. Andrew Brack respectively at the University of California, San Francisco. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Dr. John Newman's lab at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California. She seeks to better understand delirium pathophysiology and her research focus on studying the role of NAD+ (a key metabolite and signaling molecule in the body) in acute inflammation and delirium. Outside of the lab, she is a coffee enthusiast and a serious home cook/baker. She also loves travelling and playing board games.