Meet Kirsty Erickson, a trainee in the Department of Pharmacology who is studying how alcohol acts in the brain to make people want to keep drinking. She is mentored by Cody Siciliano, an assistant professor of pharmacology.
We sat down with Erickson to talk about her experience as a trainee at Vanderbilt, the mentorship and education that have shaped her journey, and what makes her unique both in and outside of the lab.
What graduate program are you in?
I am in the Neuroscience graduate program.
What drew you to Vanderbilt?
I worked as a research technician at Vanderbilt for three years before starting graduate school. Initially, I was drawn to the high caliber of research taking place here, but once I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Jeff Neul and experience the Vanderbilt community firsthand, I knew it was a place I wanted to stay. As a technician, I was given—and encouraged—to collaborate and interact with researchers across the broader community. I quickly learned that great science doesn’t happen in isolation and that the success of any individual scientist is often shaped by the team and community around them. Vanderbilt fostered that kind of collaborative environment, which made it an easy decision to continue my training here.
What is your current area of research and what is exciting about it?
I study how alcohol acts in the brain to make people want to keep drinking—though in my case, “people” really means mice. Despite being one of the most widely studied drugs of abuse, we still have a surprisingly limited understanding of the specific mechanisms that drive alcohol reinforcement. What excites me most about this work is the opportunity to build on decades of foundational research while using new and innovative tools to revisit a long-standing question in the field.
What inspired your interest in your research area?
I watched my younger brother struggle with a debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder and the long, difficult process of trying to find both a diagnosis and an effective treatment. That experience made me realize how much we still don’t understand about the brain, particularly why some individuals are more vulnerable or resilient to neuropsychiatric disorders. It motivated me to pursue research and be part of the effort to better understand these conditions and ultimately contribute to finding better treatments.
What do you like best about being a trainee? What do you enjoy about being in your lab?
The best part of being a trainee is having the freedom to explore big ideas and learning how to refine those ideas into scientific questions, hypotheses, experiments, and ultimately answers. Dr. Siciliano has been incredibly supportive in encouraging me to pursue those interests while also guiding me in shaping them into rigorous research questions. He has also built an incredible team—both within the lab and through collaborators across Vanderbilt and beyond—that makes it possible to pursue those ideas. Being part of that environment, where curiosity is encouraged and supported with the resources to follow through, has been a really rewarding part of my training.
What is the hardest part about being a trainee and how is it helping you be a better scientist?
One of the hardest parts of being a trainee is balancing the many different roles that come with graduate training—designing experiments, troubleshooting problems, mentoring students, and managing long-term projects. During my time at Vanderbilt, I have also learned how to balance my work as a scientist with becoming a parent, which has been both challenging and incredibly rewarding. That experience has strengthened my resilience, time management, and perspective, and has ultimately made me a more focused and thoughtful scientist.
What advice would you give to your younger self if you were just starting out your Ph.D. again?
If I could give advice to my younger self at the start of my Ph.D., it would be to trust the process and not be afraid of uncertainty. Early in training it can feel like everyone else has things figured out, but science is inherently a process of learning through trial, error, and persistence. Embracing that uncertainty earlier and focusing on growth rather than perfection would have made the journey less stressful and more rewarding.
What’s one skill or lesson you’ve learned at Vanderbilt that you think will stay with you throughout your career?
One lesson that will stay with me throughout my career is the importance of persistence and collaboration in scientific research. Experiments rarely work the first time, and meaningful progress often comes after many iterations and setbacks. My training at Vanderbilt has taught me how to navigate those challenges while working with colleagues who bring different expertise and perspectives. Being part of such a collaborative scientific community has reinforced that the best discoveries are often the result of people working together to solve difficult problems.
What’s something fun, quirky, or unexpected about you that people may not know?
I was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe.
What do you do for fun when you are not in the lab?
When I’m not in the lab, I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling, cooking, and getting outdoors whenever possible.
What are you reading, listening, or watching right now?
Since I commute from Clarksville to Nashville each day, I spend a lot of time listening to audiobooks and podcasts. Right now, with the recent announcement of new books coming, I’ve been making my way back through all of Sarah J. Maas’ books.