Erika F. Augustine is an Associate Chief Science Officer and Director of the Clinical Trials Unit at Kennedy Krieger Institute.
[1] She is also the Diversity Officer for the new NIH based Child Neurologist Career Development Program K12 (CNCD-K12) where she reviews applications of clinician-scientists to receive funding.
[5] She also organizes and oversees the Minority Research Scholars Program through the CNCDP-K12 which provides travels awards to individuals to attend the Neurobiology of Disease in Children Symposium and the Child Neurology Society Annual Meeting.
[3] Augustine has been featured on several media platforms such as WXXINews to discuss her research on rare neurological diseases[7] and she has also been a panelist on Second Opinion TV.
[3] She focuses on neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) or Batten diseases, which are a group of rare pediatric neurodegenerative disorders showing symptoms similar to dementia and parkinsons, often with blindness, seizures, and motor impairment.
[10] Data shows that inflammation and autoimmunity are characteristic of NCLs, so Augustine tested mycophenolate on patients with NCL, an immunosuppressant, to first see how short term administration was tolerated.
[10] She found that immunosuppression through mycophenolate was well tolerated in patients and they are now moving on to long term clinical trials to test the efficacy in reducing NCL symptoms.
[13] Anecdotal evidence from parents had suggested that females experience increased severity of Batten Disease symptoms, so Augustine sought to explore this further.