Dr. Simmons received her undergraduate degree from Ryerson University and then completed her master’s degree at Trent University under the supervision of Dr. Chris Metcalfe investigating the effects of personal care products on the estrogen receptor. Dr. Simmons continued her doctoral research at Trent under the supervision of Dr. Dirk Wallschälger and Dr. Neil Emery when she examined the metabolic detoxification of selenium by algae. Dr. Simmons completed two consecutive post-doctoral fellowships at Environment Canada working with Dr. James Sherry in the Aquatic Contaminants Research Division where she developed protein profiling and proteomics methods to investigate the health of fish. After that, Dr. Simmons had two consecutive contracts working on ‘Omics projects with the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.