Dr. Erin Staples '93

Erin’s passion for music connected her to the supportive and talented faculty and fellow students, but this music major is a true Renaissance person. Though she took only two biology courses while a student at St. Lawrence, she worked for the National Institutes of Health during her undergraduate years, through an Alumni Network connection with Dr. John O'Shea '74. She also was a Phi Beta Kappa student and studied in Vienna.

"Don't limit yourself during your undergraduate career," Staples advises. "I always wanted a career in medicine, but I pursued other interests at St. Lawrence."

Erin recently returned from a three-month assignment in Uganda to Fort Collins, Colorado, where she is an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer with the Centers for Disease Control's division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases. She decided on a specialization in infectious diseases during her residency in pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center. Staples, a native of Canton, N.Y., earned her medical degree at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.
 
In Uganda, Staples was part of a team of researchers investigating the effectiveness of new diagnostic tests for plague, which is still prevalent in that country and has a mortality rate of some 30 percent.