I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1977. During my junior year I studied chemistry and biology at the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany. My undergraduate research at University of Delaware was mentored by Dr. H. B. White III and involved purification and biochemical characterization of a protein related to avidin, biotin binding protein from egg yolk.

In 1983 I received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. My thesis was mentored by Dr. F. M. Rottman and was entitled "Studies on Messenger RNA Methylation". I studied postranscriptional modification of mRNA and hormonal regulation of the prolactin gene. I demonstrated that glucocorticoids negatively regulate prolactin gene expression. At the time we cloned the bovine prolactin and growth hormone genes, Michigan State was one of only a few Universities approved for recombinant DNA research. I moved to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH to complete my thesis when Dr. Rottman accepted the chairmanship of the Dept. of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, and I stayed there for about one year after completing my Ph.D.

I began postdoctoral training with Dr. S. M. Tilghman at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA in 1984, in the early days of transgenic technology. I established the transgenic methodology in her laboratory and used it to study the developmental regulation of alpha feto-protein (AFP) and albumin expression, two abundant serum proteins made in the liver. Using transgenic mice I showed that the albumin and AFP genes shared enhancers located between the two genes, and that the postnatal repression of AFP was accomplished through promoter proximal elements. Dr. Tilghman moved her laboratory to Princeton University in 1985, and I completed my postdoctoral studies there. During this time I established a collaboration with Dr. M. Weigert using transgenic mice to study the immune system.

In 1988 I joined the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan, established a Transgenic Animal Model Core facility that serves the University, and began my independent research on pituitary development and function. On January 1, 2005, I became the James V. Neel Collegiate Professor and Chair of The Department.