Her Story
About Erica
Erica EngelbergCook is a research scientist with over 20 years of experience in neuroscience and brain bank tissue research focused on neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease. She works at the largest brain bank in the U.S., managing tissue requests from investigators, conducting case selections, leading research studies, and handling grant applications and manuscripts. Originally from Brazil, she holds a veterinary doctor degree along with a master's, Ph.D., and postdoctoral training from the University of Sao Paulo, and previously served as a university professor before transitioning her career to human-focused research after personal family experiences with dementia. She values being straightforward and professional, continuing to learn and grow while balancing strength and humility, and advises taking risks for meaningful change.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Erica
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was from my prior mentor when I was doing master's and PhD: it's just one step at a time, and keep going.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My field is really 50-50 with women growing and having strong leadership, but we still need to keep going to higher leadership roles. We need to be strong, stand our feet, find the balance between not being aggressive or too mild, take those roles and responsibilities, and balance this with our personal lives as moms.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges today in the U.S. is the new funding scenery has been changing, and we have to submit triple the amount of grants now, which is a lot of writing and very difficult. Opportunities include making this brain bank the best in the world to honor donations and support research for new discoveries in neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
What made me grow in my field was being very straightforward, very professional in terms of your responsibilities. Keep growing always, keep learning always, be humble when you need to be humble, but be strong when you need to be strong. Being very professional and doing our work the best you can do is always the key for any successful individual.
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