Erin Golden is the Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities at the University of Colorado Denver. She received her undergraduate degree from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA in 2006 and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD in 2015.
During her research career, Dr. Golden focused on the developmental processes that underlie sensory cell development and regeneration. As a graduate student with Dr. Angelika Doetzlhofer (2008-2015), she studied the role of the Lin28b/let-7 axis in regulating the spatiotemporal development of cochlear hair cells. She then moved to Dr. Linda Barlow's lab at the University of Colorado Anschutz (2015-2019) to study the role of the sonic hedgehog (SHH) pathway in regulating taste cell turnover. Dr. Golden maintained NIH funding throughout her training career, first as an NIH IRTA Postbaccalaureate Fellow, then as a Ruth L. Kirschstein Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellow.
Dr. Golden is passionate about mentoring and credits her professional and personal successes to the mentors that helped guide her along the way. In her new role as the Director of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities at the University of Colorado Denver, her focus is on creating training opportunities for emerging scholars that help them build their scientific identities and fall in love with research.