B.S., The University of Iowa; M.S., Sarah Lawrence College. Erika currently practices as a cancer genetic counselor in Manhattan and Queens at Northwell Health Cancer Institute. She is also a clinical supervisor and thesis advisor for students in Sarah Lawrence’s genetic counseling program. Prior to starting her master’s degree, Erika was a research assistant at the Molecular Otolaryngology and Renal Research Laboratories (MORL) at The University of Iowa where she was involved in research focusing on the molecular genetics of hearing loss and variant curation for hereditary hearing loss. SLC 2022-
Graduate Courses 2025-2026
Master of Science in Human Genetics
Advanced Human Genetics
Seminar—Fall
GENE 7305
Students will be provided with a foundation in human genetics principles and concepts. The course will be organized into lectures, self-study activities, and team-based learning. Student-driven activities will enable students to apply, in a clinically relevant way, information presented in the lectures and readings.
Faculty
Evidence-Based Practice
Seminar—Fall
GENE 7339
This course frames health care literature as the foundation of evidence for clinical practice. Students will understand that, in order for literature to be translated into clinical practice to best serve patients, practitioners must be critical consumers of publications. To build a foundation of evidence-based practice, students will explore processes of clinical research and examine definitions of evidence. They will develop their own evidence-based practice by learning how to collate judgments about available data—judgments that are perpetually uncertain, ambiguous, and complex as research adds to and alters our present knowledge of health. By the end of the course, students will grow to be consciously critical clinical practitioners, who personalize their case preparation to their patients by embodying a practice grounded in research-derived clinical skills.
Faculty
Fundamentals of Genetic Counseling II
Seminar—Spring
GENE 7307
Building on the skill set of Fundamentals of Genetic Counseling I (GENE 7306), this course will develop skills relevant to clinical risk assessment. By traversing the path from calculations to care, students will understand that risks are composite predictions for future disease, that assessment of those risks enables a preventive approach to health care, and that outcomes of risk assessment are mediated by risk perceptions. Course activities will include discussion, small-group activities, demonstration, and role-play with peer feedback.