Scientific Review Officer, Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health, USA.

Elaine Sierra-Rivera PhD serves as the Scientific Review Officer for the Therapeutic Approaches to Genetic Diseases Study Section (TAG), within the Genes, Genomes, and Genetics (GGG) IRG. TAG reviews grant applications related to mechanisms by which genomic abnormalities lead to genetic disease, development of therapeutics for genetic diseases, as well as pathogenesis of rare diseases. Prior to joining GGG, she served as SRO for the Cancer Molecular Pathobiology (CAMP) and Cancer Etiology (CE) Study Sections. After receiving her PhD in cancer biology/radiation biology at the University of Iowa, Dr. Sierra-Rivera had postdoctoral training in the pathology department at Brown University. She then went to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where she was an assistant professor. Her initial research focused on the molecular response of GSH to oxidative stress in various tumor models, resulting in the cloning of the human genes that encode the catalytic and regulatory subunits of GSH. Her research also involved studies on growth factor modulation of human mammary epithelium during oncogenic transformation. She was also involved in investigations to determine how TGF-ß and tie2 receptor tyrosine kinase modulate brain tumor cells survival.

Dr. Sierra-Rivera will spoke about "Policies for Including Women and Minority Groups in Clinical Research" in the Ensuring Inclusive Excellence through Merit/Peer Review session at the Gender Summit 3 North America 2013.