Meagan Bechel

Growing up in a military family, I spent a lot of my early years learning how to pack and unpack boxes efficiently. However, we eventually settled in the Midwest, where I pursued a degree in Biomedical Engineering at The Ohio State University. During my four years there, I completed several internships all focused on biological imaging modalities, including computed tomography and millimeter wave applications. In my last two years, I decided to transition to a more biology intense path and chose tissue engineering as my major concentration. I completed and defended an undergraduate honors research thesis on the role of myoferlin in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of breast cancer.

After graduation, I took some time away from school before entering medical school. During this time, I continued to expand my skill set through many different research positions, including R&D product specialist at Nestle and phlebotomy lab lead for the OSU Stress & Pregnancy Lab. This adaptability served me well when I matriculated to the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern.

During my first year, I became interested in ICU medicine and began working with Dr. Curtis Weiss in on a project focused on ventilator management in patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Acute Respiratory Failure (ARF). Dr. Weiss was collaborating with Dr. Amaral and I was fascinated by the complex system analysis phase of the ventilator management project. I decided to take a year between my third and fourth years of medical school to join the Amaral lab. At the end of that year, one year just wasn’t enough and so I joined the Northwestern Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD).

The goal of my thesis work was to quantify the adoption of clinical guidelines by clinicians in the ICU using EHR data generated in the course of daily patient care. Specifically, I examined clinical predictors of tidal volumes, the role of communication networks within the ICU, and developed performance metrics that adjust for a physician’s or institution’s patient census. Currently, I am exploring the generalizability of this work through a multi-center study here in the United States and a collaboration with the international LUNG SAFE consortium. My time is split between working as a post-doc in the lab, finishing my last year of medical school, and dedicating time to my medical education projects.