New Leadership in Extramural NIGMS

Dr. Erica Brown has been selected as associate director for extramural activities and director of NIGMS’s Division of Extramural Activities (DEA). In this role, she oversees the receipt, referral, review and fiscal management of the institute’s grants. Additionally, she serves as executive secretary of NIGMS’s advisory council and advises senior staff on the planning, development and administration of institute grant activities. 

Brown joined NIGMS in 2017 as deputy DEA director and has served as acting director since early 2019. Her prior NIH experience includes overseeing the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts, directing NIH’s AREA program and serving as a scientific review officer at NIAID. 

Brown received her B.S. in biochemistry from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.  

Dr. Darren Sledjeski has been selected as DEA deputy director. He will work with institute staff to optimize and modernize DEA’s processes and procedures. He will continue to oversee the NIGMS council preparations and operations and will assist with the oversight of grants management and review functions. 

Prior to this appointment, Sledjeski was chief of the Genetic Mechanisms Branch in the Division of Genetics and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at NIGMS, where he administered research grants in the area of transcription mechanisms and protein synthesis and postdoctoral training grants in medical genetics. He previously worked in NIAID’s Office of Initiative Development and in the institute’s Scientific Review Program. 

Sledjeski earned a B.S. in biology from the College of William and Mary and a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Maryland.