Staff
Erika T. Brown, PhD, ELAM ’15, is associate director of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program. She was appointed dean of faculty affairs at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in December 2021. She previously served at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) as the inaugural associate dean for faculty affairs and development and was promoted to senior associate dean for faculty affairs, professional and academic development. Dr. Brown also held a faculty appointment as professor of pathology and anatomy. In addition, she is a nationally recognized expert in faculty affairs and professional development and a highly sought speaker and consultant. She has nearly 10 years’ experience in this field, and nearly 20 years’ experience in academic medicine.
Dr. Brown has been an active member of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Faculty Affairs (AAMC GFA) since 2013. She has served on both the Professional Development and Communications Committees of the AAMC GFA and had the distinction of being elected to the AAMC GFA National Steering Committee, term 2018-2021. She developed the AAMC GFA Virtual Town Halls, which is a virtual forum that brings together faculty affairs colleagues from the member institutions to discuss common areas of interest. In addition, she has served as a member of the AAMC Minority Faculty External Advisory Committee and collaborates with the AAMC Group on Diversity and Inclusion (GDI) and AAMC Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS).
In her research program, she has studied the roles of the proteins BRCA1 and 2 in breast cancer and repair of damaged DNA since 1999. She has also engaged in groundbreaking minority health disparities research examining the frequency of breast cancer genetic variants in the Sea Islands population, which has the highest percentage of West African ancestry in the U.S. She has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program, and has served as a grant reviewer for both agencies.
Her numerous honors and awards include Sigma Xi Scientific Honor Society membership, recognition by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), MSM Diversity Appreciation, multiple honors in teaching and higher education, and most recently, she was included in 1000 Inspiring Black Scientists (2020), The Community of Scholars: 1,000 inspiring Black scientists in America (cell.com). Dr. Brown also had the distinction of being a fellow in the 2014-15 Class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM®) Program for women. She now serves as a Learning Community Advisor for the ELAM® program in addition to her role as associate director.
Dr. Brown received her BS in biology (minor in biochemistry) from Spelman College, with academic honors, and PhD in medical genetics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed her postdoctoral studies in cancer and radiation biology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (now University of Colorado—Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus).
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ELAM is a core program of the Institute for Women's Health and Leadership at Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa. The Institute continues the legacy of advancing women in medicine that began in 1850 with the founding of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the nation's first women's medical school and a predecessor of today's Drexel University College of Medicine.