Erika Ginsburg, M.A.

Branch Director, Office of Training and Education
Center for Cancer Training

Erika serves as Branch Director of NCI’s Center for Cancer Training (CCT), Office of Training and Education (OTE).  Erika uses her passion for training and mentorship to manage career development programs for trainees.  Several years ago, Erika revised the Sallie Rosen Kaplan Postdoctoral Fellowship for Women Scientists to better prepare NCI’s female postdoctoral fellows to transition to independence and to retain them in science.  Fellows who have successfully completed the one-year program and have gone on to their next career stage have all remained in the biomedical workforce.   In addition, she has developed, coordinated, and evaluated other career development workshops, courses, and programs in the CCT.  Erika leads the NIH Fellows Editorial Board, NCI Explore On-Site program, and the NCI Director’s Innovation Award, just to name a few.  Her effort in initiating the Responsible Conduct of Research training course for NCI trainees was recognized by an individual NCI’s Director’s Award in 2016.  In 2006, the Association for Women in Science, Bethesda Chapter, awarded her Mentor of the Year.  As Branch Director of OTE, Erika advocates for trainees, and continues to facilitate and promote training opportunities by working closely with trainees, PIs, and senior leadership.

Before joining CCT, Erika had a long career in NCI’s intramural program as a Technical Laboratory Manager in CCR’s Mammary Biology and Tumorigenesis Laboratory where she studied prolactin’s action on breast cancer. Prolactin is an important hormone responsible for the development of the breast and may be positively associated with breast cancer risk.   Together with Dr. Barbara Vonderhaar, she was the first to demonstrate that human breast cancer cells synthesize and secrete significant amounts of biologically active prolactin.  She mentored over 150 trainees in the Laboratory and has over 50 publications in the fields of drug metabolism, and hormone regulation of the normal and cancerous breast.

Erika received her undergraduate training in Biophysics and Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh, her Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in Science/Medical Writing, and holds a Master’s Certificate in Biotechnology Management from the University of Maryland University College.