O’Reilly started his research career as a lab apprentice at Georgetown University Medical School in Washington, D.C. He also spent time as a lab tech at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland with Dr. Larry Schramm, where he learned to record from voltage-gated Na+ channels. He then pursued and received his MS and PhD degrees in Neuroscience and Biophysics from Yale University and Medical School, New Haven, CT working on effect of hypoxia on Na+ currents in brain tissue. This was followed by post-doctoral work at the Brigham & Women's Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. focusing on the structure & function of voltage-gated Na+ channels. Current research at Southeastern continues this research in the laboratory looking at structure-function analysis of slow inactivation in voltage-gated Na+ channels. He has continued this research at Southeastern since 2003. Teaching duties include Anatomy & Physiology courses primarily for Nursing and Kinesiology students, and Animal Behavior and Neuroscience courses primarily for upper-level Biology majors.
