Megan White, MSW

Primary Responsibilities:

My primary responsibility for the Department of Population Science and Policy is to assist in research and community engagement aimed at improving health outcomes in central and southern Illinois.

About:

I graduated from Eastern Illinois University (2014) with a Bachelor’s in Psychology. While at EIU, I conducted an honors thesis entitled “Nightmares in School-Aged Children,” where I measured the nightmare frequency and distress of a sample of school-aged children and their corresponding anxiety traits. I received my Master’s in Social Work with a concentration in mental health from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2016). I began my professional research career at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, where I worked on a variety of studies ranging from mental well-being of preschoolers and adolescents to opiate overdose mortality. I have also worked on clinical trials, including those for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID vaccines. Being from a small town in rural Illinois, I am enthusiastic about improving the health and bridging the gap of disparities in rural towns just like mine. I was excited to join the Department of Population Science and Policy at SIU School of Medicine full time as a Research Project Specialist in October 2019, and so grateful to be welcomed back to the department in March 2021.