Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Wendy attended Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania.  There, she obtained a B.S. in biology with a concentration in marine biology in the spring of 2000.  The last semester of her senior year, she completed an internship at the University of Florida working on the International Shark Attack Files and doing research using shark attack statistics.  From there, she moved to Charleston, South Carolina.  While in Charleston, she attended the Graduate School at the College of Charleston.  In the fall of 2002, she obtained a M.S. in marine biology after completing research on juvenile horseshoe crab habitat selection.

Following graduation, she returned to Pittsburgh and started working at the University of Pittsburgh in early 2003 examining zebrafish kidney development.  In mid-2004, she moved to the DNA Sequencing Core Facility until mid-2007 when she started in the Vieira lab.  Currently, she is conducting inventory, organizing, tracking and record keeping for the facial cleft samples.  Wendy also takes DNA extractions from blood and saliva.

In her free time, Wendy enjoys spending time with her daughter Makenna and husband Scott.