Erika was born and raised in Fishtown, PA on the same square block her whole entire life. At the age of 2, communicating science became very important to her family because she was diagnosed with alopecia. Alopecia is an autoimmune disease characterized by progressive hair loss all over the body. For a while Erika described her hair loss as “her body being allergic to itself” but as she got older the vocabulary changed and she was communicating science to the children around her. For her disease, there is no cure, which is one of the main reasons Erika became heavily involved in science and interested in science at an early age. She attended Christopher Columbus Charter School (CCCS) in South Philadelphia for kindergarten through 8th grade. Mr. Holland, Erika’s 7th grade science teacher at CCCS,  made science fun and tangible for her. Being at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, Erika was very involved. She was a tri-sport athlete all 4 years at GHS and a member of the student council, and in the summers she interned at Monell Chemical Senses Center as a research apprentice. She always pushed herself in her classes and opted to take organic chemistry with Mr. Ames, where her love of chemistry really blossomed. Going into undergrad at Notre Dame of Maryland University, Erika declared her major of chemistry during her orientation. Upon graduation, Erika was the only chemistry major that graduated in 2017 for NDMU. 

 

Erika’s science career started with her diagnosis and life-long commitment to helping people understand what is “wrong” with her so that it’s not viewed negatively. However, growing up there was little access to people of academia or medical professions for Erika to use as a “role model”. Therefore, Erika’s also been very involved in creating mentoring platforms for students at all levels of education to broaden the impact and allow students to see that their dream job is tangible as long as you believe and work for it. In September 2018, Erika founded the “Goaled Minded Mentorship Program” at CCCS to help students that were interested in certain careers find mentors in that profession that were alumni from CCCS. Moving forward, Erika wanted to impact GHS students and help them better focus their “free time” as well as their studying techniques and help them spruce themselves up for undergrad when it comes time for applications and so on.

 

Now, as a Ph.D. Candidate at Stony Brook University School of Medicine in the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology program studying muscle stem cells, Erika is realizing how important informational interviews, networking and career guidance is to foster a successful future. One thing Erika wished she would have known going into the “real world” was how important these factors are earlier and how to establish connections but also maintain them. Therefore, through the Sisterhood of Traveling Mentors (STM), Erika wants to enrich the current students’ environment and provide them mentors within the vast network of the well established Girls High School alumnae. 

 

Although Erika is directly involved in medical research and within a STEM field, the STM program will be open to mentors of all careers and students interested in being mentored in that field. Through STM, Erika believes that future GHS graduates will have a positive outlook on careers of all types through the communication and relationships that will be built with their mentors. Their networks will become exponential and very influential to their careers. Erika is very excited to embark on the STM journey along with Elizabeth to make the current GHS sisterhood even more powerful through the future bond of students with alumnae in careers of all types. 

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Erika realizes that her career, successes and future endeavors are a product of her own initiative and the support of the people around her, so here are some photos of Erika and a few of the people that Erika is very grateful to have found friendship, mentorship and relationships with to help shape her, although many are not photographed here.