Fall 2007 Newsletter

Alumna Follows Uncharted Territory In Metabolic Studies

Megan Rothney (BSBEG '02) started graduate school at Vanderbilt University, Department of Biomedical Engineering working on a computational model designed to improve the detection of breast cancer. "I got frustrated with the work because I felt like it was so far from the clinic that I knew I would never be around to see the project in action on real people. So, when I started to look around for new things to work on for my PhD, I was intrigued by the idea of working in clinical research," Megan says.

Working at the Metabolic Clinical Research Unit

Megan has always had an interest in human performance stemming from her own athletic endeavors when she was younger. At the National Institutes of Health's Metabolic Clinical Research Unit she got her chance to work on these things. Megan learned how to use the room calorimeter, portable calorimeters, body composition equipment, accelerometers, heart rate monitors, and a medley of other tools and instruments. She also got the chance to do what she had always wanted to do, working with people regularly to see how her research was making a difference.

Dr. Rothney is currently working on setting up the new room calorimeters and performing studies to determine the accuracy of the Metabolic Clinical Research Unit's body composition equipment and portable calorimeters. She also sees subjects on three protocols. One is a weight loss intervention, and the other is a natural history study where Megan says the team is attempting to phenotype obese and normal weight adults using a number of standard metabolic assessments. The other study involves evaluating therapies for adolescents with type II diabetes.

Working with a team of clinicians (largely, endocrinologists), dieticians, psychologists, occupational therapists, pain specialists, and bioengineers means that each of the team members is able to expand beyond the scope of their own educational background. "The great thing about working on a team like this is that everyone is doing what they do best and not trying to extend beyond their interests and abilities. Through the team I have been able to gain a greater appreciation for the complexity of obesity," Megan says.

Achieving Success

Megan attributes some of her success to the solid engineering training and research experience she gained as an undergraduate student. She felt she could trust faculty members to help her make important decisions that were in her best interest. To this day, she still refers to mentors within the department to toss around ideas, like her big move to the NIH, something she found incredibly valuable at a time when she felt she was being pulled in multiple directions.

Megan's Advice

Megan feels researchers should be open to life's possibilities. "I never thought that I would do research on obesity - it just never crossed my mind. But, I took a chance on a project that I thought sounded interesting and I have never regretted it."

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