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Erica H. Williams, MHS
Cancer Research Training Award Fellow
Erica started her undergraduate education at Xavier University of Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina precipitated a transfer to Tuskegee University, where she completed her undergraduate education and received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology in 2007. She earned a Master of Health Science degree from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology within the Division of Cancer Biology in 2008.
Erica has completed several basic science research internships. Her most recent internship experience was with the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis (LHC) breast and prostate cancer unit. She participated in research that examined gene expression profiles in breast tumors to identify differences in tumor biology between African American and European American breast cancer patients. She also investigated a novel gene, PSPHL, as a prostate cancer susceptibility gene in African American men. In fact, she presented this research at the 2008 NIH Summer Research Festival. In the summer of 2006 at the University of North Texas Health Science Center’s School of Biomedical Sciences in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunology, she studied the function of a novel protein, MGC14832, and its relationship to prostate cancer. In 2005, Erica completed a clinical research program at Louisiana State University Health Science Center (LSUHSC) within the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium Program. As a student research associate, she evaluated dietary habits in men to determine the effects of certain foods, food combinations, vitamins or supplements on Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) levels and prostate cancer. Additionally, she worked on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Genome Research Institute’s Genetic Epidemiological Lung Cancer study and she independently designed a study to examine differences in smoking behaviors of smoking and non-smoking lung cancer patients.
As a CRTA within BBRB, Erica is interested in bridging her training in cancer biology and health disparities with biological mechanisms associated with psychosocial influences on cancer prevention and control.
After completion of her CRTA appointment, Erica plans to attend medical school in fall 2010. Thereafter she aspires to integrate her medical education with advanced training in clinical and laboratory science to research triple negative breast cancer among African American women. Erica also plans to continue her advocacy for breast/prostate cancer research through her volunteer efforts with the American Cancer Society and other non-profit organizations in underrepresented and economically underserved minority communities in the Washington, D.C., metro area.
Select Publications and Presentations
Martin DN, Boersma BJ, Yi M, Reimers M, Howe TM, Yfantis HG, Tsai YC, Williams EH, Lee DH, Stephens RM, Weissman, AM, Ambs, S (2009) Differences in the Tumor Microenvironment between African-American and European- American Breast Cancer Patients. PLoS ONE 4(2): e4531. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004531
Williams EH, Martin DN, McDonald P. Social Environmental Influences on Tumor Biology: Plausible Mechanisms and Implications for Health Disparities. (Manuscript in Preparation)
Williams EH and Angus-Collins, T. Analysis of IGF-1, 1GF Binding Proteins, and Diet in African American and Caucasian Men. (Manuscript in Preparation)
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