Megan Garvey-Whatley
Where I am from: I grew up in a rural part of Tennessee about an hour outside of Nashville. I moved to Chicago when I was 18 to attend the University of Chicago, and I stuck around to do a Master’s in Neurobiology at Northwestern University and then work in a neurobiology lab. I loved being in Chicago and lived there for about seven years total before moving to Sint Maarten (in the Caribbean) for medical school. I did my two years of basic sciences training there before moving to New York for the clinical training part of medical school. After spending the last few years moving around a lot, I am excited to be in one place for the foreseeable future!
Where am I going: I’m interested in neuro-critical care and neuro-oncology. I did a lot of molecular neurobiology research before medical school, and both neuro-critical care and neuro-onc have unlimited potential for studying molecular mechanism of injury and growth and how these things affect long-term prognosis. I can definitely see myself sticking around for a fellowship after training, if they’ll have me. I’m hoping for a future in academic medicine where I can balance research and patient care.
Why am I here: I was looking for a program that had a great track record in both clinical teaching and research, along with a program that could expose me to all of the subspecialties within child neurology. I do think that I will end up in neuro-critical care or neuro-onc, but I wanted to be well-rounded enough to treat any child neurology patients upon graduating from residency. I also wanted a program with a high volume of pediatric neurology patients — preferably one with both their own service and a consult service. When I interviewed at WashU, it was obvious that this program would meet all of my academic needs, but more than that, I felt like everyone I talked to on my interview day was just as excited to be meeting me as I was to be meeting them. Everyone on my interview day was fantastic and friendly. Even though it was a virtual interview, I could feel the passion that the everyone in the program had for child neurology and for sharing their knowledge with residents. Since being here, I have only been happier and happier with my choice. Everyone here, including those from the pediatric program and the child neurology program, has been so fantastic and welcoming. I know I’ll be happy here for my training. Plus, I have the best co-residents ever.