Ms. Lekyla Whitaker Joined NINDS/DTR as Operations Coordinator in 2021. Lekyla received her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from North Carolina Central University. She began her career at NIH shortly after graduation, as a grants technical assistant in NIH OER/DEAS, followed by her role as Program Support Assistant at FDA/CDER till 2009. Following an assignment outside NIH as Executive Assistant at RGN Management, Lekyla came back to NIH/NIDA in 2012 where she supported various programs within NIDA/DIR and joined NIEHS in 2018. Lekyla served as Administrative Assistant in the Clinical Research Branch, supporting a team of clinicians and research analysts at NIEHS.
As an Operations Coordinator at NINDS, Lekyla is passionate about reducing health disparities and learning how they effect the health of understudied, underrepresented, and underreported populations.