Scholarship & Opportunity
Freelance Science Writing, October 2007 — Present.
Published stories about science, medicine, and health in the St. Louis Beacon and for the Office of Public Affairs at Washington University in St. Louis. My press releases have been picked up by numerous science news websites including Science Daily, Medical News Today, physorg.com, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, Checkbiotech.org, Innovations Report, Media Newswire, and EurekAlert.
Hospital Epidemiology, Center for Clinical Excellence, BJC HealthCare, October 2007 — December 2009.
Provided epidemiological data analysis (including data maintenance, graphs, and statistical analysis) for BJC HealthCare's 13-hospital system. Provided technical writing, including written procedures and surveillance processes. Edited documents for the Center for Clinical Excellence, including the internal newsletter, articles to appear in hospital newsletters, and technical documents such as the system-wide BJC Project Management Standards.
Biomechanics Research, University of Minnesota, Dept of Biomedical Engineering, (2003-2004).
Master's degree work compared the tensile strength of real aortic valve leaflets with bioengineered tissue in an effort to develop a tissue-engineered aortic valve replacement. Performed biaxial mechanical tests of aortic valve leaflets and engineered tissue equivalents using Instron biaxial testing equipment. Grew fibrin tissue equivalents in cylindrical molds to be used in mechanical tests. Performed experiments to determine fiber alignment in tissue samples using polarized light.
Master of Science, Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (2007)
Bachelor of Science, Engineering Science with French minor, graduated with honors and distinction, Iowa State University, Ames, IA (2003)
Journalism Coursework, Washington University in St. Louis, Fall 2007 — Spring 2008.