In the Spotlight – Beth Meyerand

Beth Meyerand

Chair, Biomedical Engineering Professor
Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics

“When I see a student get excited about what they’re learning, I just think, ‘Wow, they’re going to be a great scientist someday.’ It’s very gratifying.”

Family?

Husband and two kids, ages six and eight.

Hobbies?

I really enjoy cooking. I love making things with local ingredients-something fresh. Other than cooking, I love being outdoors. I run every day. I love hiking, kayaking, camping, fishing-anything like that.

Little-known fact?

I was a reservist in the Coast Guard.

SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVE

In the Spotlight

Dr. Meyerand is a professor in medical physics, as well professor and chair of biomedical engineering. She has been working at the University of Wisconsin for fourteen years. Her area of research is brain imaging using MRI and working on projects with epilepsy patients, patients who have had strokes, patients who have had traumatic brain injuries, and patients with balance problems. In addition to analyzing brain activation, Dr Meyerand Lab is also developing techniques to explore brain connectivity using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the concept of effective connectivity. As implemented in MRI. DTI is a noninvasive imaging technique that can be used to probe the intrinsic diffusion characteristics of tissue. The goal of this research is to develop the technology that physicians will use to investigate and administer the treatments of those disorders.

How did you discover medical physics and MRI research?

When I was an undergraduate, I was actually majoring in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. After my freshman year, I worked in a molecular biology lab, and I hated it! I didn’t like that the experiments were so long; I could be working on a three-week long experiment purifying a protein, and if I made one little mistake, the whole experiment was garbage. I also missed the math, and I realized I like instant gratification rather than long experiments. I learned about NMR (nuclear magnetic resonsance) in my organic chemistry class, and I was really fascinated by that.

How did you become involved with the department here at UW-Madison?

Before I came here as a faculty member, I had never done any brain imaging. I had done every other kind of MRI research imaginable-I had built hardware, I had worked with software, I had imaged almost every other part of the body except the brain. After my postdoc, I was looking for a faculty position and it was pretty well-known in my field that UW-Madison is one of the best places in the country for MRI research. I saw the opening for brain MRI and I thought, “Well, I’ve never done brain MRI, but I’ve done everything else, and I really want to go to UW Madison,” so I applied and I got the job.

What is your favorite aspect of your career?

I love teaching. It’s so much fun, it’s so interactive. I love to see the look in a student’s eye when they finally understand something and they get excited about the material I’m presenting. I can just see who they’re going to be. When I see them get excited about what they’re learning, I just think, “Wow, they’re going to be a great scientist someday.” It’s very gratifying.

What are some challenges you find with working in your field?

One of the greatest challenges, but also what I enjoy the most, is how our research is so interdisciplinary. Any research area that I study is incredibly broad; I have to know physics, engineering, computer science, the clinical disorder we’re studying. It’s a challenge to amass all of that knowledge. It’s also difficult to put all of the right people on a project to make sure it works.

How do you keep up with learning all of these new things?

I do a lot of collaborations-one of the nice things about UW-Madison is how easy it is to find people in other departments. They teach me things, invite me to lectures, and invite me to be involved in their department. I also go to conferences around the country to learn about things outside my discipline.

What advice would you like to give to students who are looking to be medical physicists?

This is going to be very unusual advice, but I think it is really valuable to brush up on writing skills. Reading and writing are so important, and I think a lot of people who are in physics and engineering are there partly because they didn’t like English. But it is so important. In your day-to-day work as a medical physicist, you will be writing grants, proposals, manuals, and reports, and if you can’t articulately present your ideas, you’re in trouble. No one will believe the research you’re doing, you won’t be able to get grant funding, and your papers won’t be published. You don’t have to be an expert in scientific writing, but you should take some kind of writing course so that you can learn how to develop a theme and how to get your point across in a concise and clear manner.

What do you see as the future of MRI and Medical Physics?

I think a lot of medical physics is becoming more interdisciplinary. If you look at all areas of science, there’s a lot of blending going on between departments, and that includes medical physics. I think medical physicists have to be more aware of the biological sciences, clinical technology, engineering and nanotechnology. Then we can take advances in other fields and apply it to ours to create new medical physics technology.

What other career could you see yourself doing if you weren’t a professor?

It might surprise some people, but I would definitely be in the Coast Guard! I was in the Coast Guard reserves for a few years and I loved it. I think I started too late in life-I found I couldn’t balance my career in the Coast Guard, taking care of my young family, and my career in Medical Physics, so when the time came to re-enlist in the Coast Guard, I decided not to. It’s always a surprise to people in Medical Physics when they learn I was in the Coast Guard, and my friends from the Coast Guard are surprised that I’m a professor! So I guess it’s a little unexpected.

Beth Meyerand

What accomplishment are you most proud of?

Professionally, I’m most proud of graduating thirteen students from my lab. That is always the most rewarding thing. When I go to graduation with them and walk across the stage with them. It’s such an honor and privilege to be involved in their education. Because I’ve graduated so many students, some of my senior students have tenure and students of their own, and it’s just so cool to see one of my former student’s students give an oral presentation at a conference. I’m very proud to be a part of that.