DBRW Staff

Ericka Boone, Ph.D., Director
Dr. Ericka Boone is the Director of the NIH Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW). In this role, Dr. Boone provides leadership on the development, implementation and evaluation of policies and programs to train, sustain and enhance the diversity of the future of the biomedical research workforce. Dr. Boone also served as the Director of the NIH Division of Loan Repayment. In this that role, Dr. Boone was responsible for administering and providing leadership for the NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) as well as representing NIH on matters related to the operations, policy development and evaluation of the LRPs. Prior to this position, Dr. Boone served as a Health Scientist Administrator in the Office of Science Policy and Communications at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Before coming to NIH, Dr. Boone conducted research at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Emory University. Dr. Boone's academic background includes a B.A. in Biology from Talladega College and a Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Health from The Pennsylvania State University.

Teraya Donaldson, M.S., Ph.D., Health Science Administrator

Teraya Donaldson, M.S., Ph.D., is currently a Health Scientist Administrator in the Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW) in the Office of Extramural Research (OER). Dr. Donaldson serves in the role of research training policy officer, providing leadership and guidance regarding the development and administration of extramural research training and career development programs and policies at NIH.

Dr. Donaldson earned her doctorate from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Microbiology investigating malarial chemotherapeutic targets. After completing a postdoctorate in biophysics at Oberlin College and serving as visiting faculty fellow at University of Richmond, Dr. Donaldson led graduate and KL2 training initiatives as the Assistant Director of Education for the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). In that capacity, she was faculty for the Center and administrative liaison for students, faculty, scholars, and other participants in educational programs in CCTR. Additionally, Dr. Donaldson was the graduate director for the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) R25 award where she provided mentoring and guidance for predoctoral students.

As an AAAS S&T fellow in Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) from 2018-2020, she served as the executive secretary for Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers and developed training and workforce initiatives including the Prize for Enhancing Faculty Gender Diversity. Previously Dr. Donaldson was a health science policy analyst in the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and a Health Scientist Administrator in ORWH.

Tracy Dowtin, Staff Assistant
Ms. Tracy Dowtin provides administrative, technical and project management support for DBRW. Ms. Dowtin ensures the smooth executive functioning of the office by maintaining operational efficiency in record keeping, initiates or recommends action to correct problems, improve programs, synthesizes data into reports, briefings and presentations. Ms. Dowtin is also an expert at navigating the complex federal rules and regulations concerning contracts and the logistical arrangements as required for federal travel, meetings, conferences and webinars. She is also an integral member of standing committees, including the Training Advisory Committee (TAC) Diversity Subcommittee, the Early-Stage Investigator Committee, the Extramural Project Management Committee and Employee Engagement Committee (EEC). Ms. Dowtin is currently pursuing/completing her Bachelor's degree in General Sciences.

Lisa Evans, JD, Senior Advisor for Scientific Workforce Programs
Prior to coming to the NIH, Ms. Evans served as the External Compliance Manager for the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and as the lead Civil Rights Analyst on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Evans received her BA in Political Science and Black Studies from Amherst College, and her JD from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Charles Evans Hughes Fellow and an Earl Warren Legal Scholar. Ms. Evans entered the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), through the highly competitive Attorney General's Honors Program in 1994. She was a litigator in the Educational Opportunities Litigation Section for six years, brought the first linguistic access case in the Civil Rights Division, and worked on the trial team that integrated The Citadel, the formerly all-male military academy in South Carolina. Ms. Evans also represented DOJ on an Executive Branch task force on affirmative action in education and provided advice to sister agencies.

Cecilia Gaultney, M.P.S., Senior Health Science Program Analyst
Cecilia Gaultney is the Senior Health Science Program Analyst in DBRW. Prior to joining DBRW, Cecilia was with NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health in the Career Development section, guiding and administrating programs that aimed to retain and promote women in science. Her Master's Degree in Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County informs her expertise is in the areas of program evaluation, data-based decision making, survey design and development, learning and development, and workforce management. 

At DBRW, Cecilia supports programs and activities related to various OER and NIH- wide committees and working groups while focusing in on her passion: carrying out analyses and planning evaluations for programs within DBRW's mission areas to be able to report outcomes to the public and use data to make decisions on future directions that will best serve and include everyone in the Biomedical Research Workforce.

Omar McCrimmon, M.A., Communications and Outreach Specialist
Mr. Omar McCrimmon, an award-winning Science Communications professional, is the Communications and Outreach Specialist at the NIH Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW). In this role, Omar is responsible for all aspects of communications and outreach for DBRW which includes the NIH Division of Loan Repayment. Prior to joining DBRW, Omar spent five years at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) where he managed media relations, and social media. From there, he moved to the Alzheimer's Association where he played a role in managing public policy, and diversity program media relations. Omar holds a B.A. in Journalism from Norfolk State University, and a M.A. in Communications from Trinity University.

Lynn Morin, Program Policy and Evaluation Officer
Lynn Morin is the program policy and evaluation officer in the Division of Biomedical Research Workforce in the Office of Extramural Research. She serves to support policies and procedures regarding NIH research training and career development, and assists in the coordination of critical operation activities within the Division, including the expert review of funding opportunity announcements and development of guidance and operating procedures.  Lynn has served NIH for over 21 years in various roles including the de facto training director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and in 2021 was Acting Branch Director for the Customer Outreach and Education Branch (COED) in the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) where she was on detail from the Career Development and Workforce Gender Diversity (CDW) Section of the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH).

Katrina Pearson, Senior Advisor for Analysis and Reporting
Katrina Pearson joined the Division of Biomedical Research Workforce after spending a career supporting extramural research and training programs, policies, and outcomes. She is focused on understanding career trajectories of NIH applicants, trainees, and award recipients, to support policy development, data dissemination and a sustainable biomedical workforce. She has a background in information system management and has served in various capacities since joining OER in 1998. Prior to joining OER, she worked in the Scientific Review Branch at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In a former position, she has led a data analysis and reporting group through special trans-NIH initiatives such as the Next Generation Research Initiatives along with several critical strategic initiatives relative to enhance research, training programs, and peer review activities, workforce-related studies, and various stakeholder-driven analyses.