Dr. Erika Augustine is the Associate Chief Science Officer and Director of the Clinical Trials Unit at Kennedy Krieger Institute, where she leads the Institute’s clinical and translational research strategy and oversees clinical trials operations, growth, and compliance. She also serves as the primary liaison with the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.

Her research focuses on developing therapies for rare pediatric neurological disorders, emphasizing clinical phenotyping and trial design. NIH-funded, her work explores trial readiness and outcome measures in neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (Batten diseases). She has published extensively on rare disease drug development, natural history studies, and Parkinson’s disease trials.

Dedicated to mentorship, Dr. Augustine founded the Minority Research Scholars Program to advance diversity in clinical research. She serves as Associate Editor for Annals of Neurology, Neurology Director for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and on the Board of the American Brain Coalition.