Meghan Elizabeth Free of Chapel Hill graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on May 11, 2013, with her Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
A 2004 graduate of East Rowan High School, Meghan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with distinction from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2007. From 2007-2009, she was a post-baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Awardee at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. She matriculated into the Ph.D. program at UNC in 2009. While at UNC, she trained under Dr. Ronald Falk and Dr. Maureen Su to investigate autoimmune kidney diseases.
Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented as oral abstracts at international meetings. During her training, she also completed a certificate program in Translational Medicine funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In April 2013, she attended the 16th International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshop in Paris, France, where she was presented with the Fokko van der Woude Memorial Award which recognizes the research of a young investigator.
In July, she will become a faculty Research Instructor in the Kidney Center at UNC. Meghan is the daughter of Timothy and Patricia Free of Salisbury and the granddaughter of Betty Monroe of Salisbury, Bronley and Peggie Free of Red Lion, Pa., and Linda Diehl of York, Pa.