Dr. Linger earned a Bachelor of Science in biology with high honors in zoology from the University of Maryland . Her undergraduate thesis involved field ecology studies of streambed invertebrates and their responses to habitat heterogeneity. After college, she worked in the Maryland biotechnology industry before moving to Colorado to pursue graduate studies in neuropharmacology.

During graduate school, Dr. Linger investigated molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, focusing on ethanol-mediated changes in glutamate receptor phosphorylation and subcellular localization in the hippocampus. Her work was funded by a predoctoral National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Colorado.

Dr. Linger continued her research training as a postdoctoral fellow in the Pediatrics Department at the University of Colorado. Her postdoctoral research focused on the identification of novel biologic targets for new therapies in lung cancer and leukemia. Dr. Linger’s work contributed to the publication of several scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and two patents. In 2008, Dr. Linger received the Scientific Merit Award from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.

After many years of research-intensive training, Dr. Linger left the bench to pursue a career in teaching. She has been a faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Rocky Vista University since July 2013.

In her free time, Dr. Linger enjoys spending time outdoors with her family and friends.