Katie Childers

Katie Childers is a 2019-2023 Self Graduate Fellow pursuing a Ph.D. in bioengineering. Childers, originally from Northville, MI, graduated magna cum laude and received her B.S. (2019) in biomedical engineering with a minor in physics from Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. At Bucknell University, she was a two-time member of the Academic All-Patriot League Women’s Golf Team and founded a community service house on campus that provided engineering students the opportunity to complete outreach in the local community. She pursued undergraduate research to implement microfluidic laboratory exercises in the undergraduate curriculum. In addition, she spent two summers working with a KU alumni to study personalized medicine and the monitoring of drug treatments while also writing a market analysis on biosensing. Her current research is focused on developing diagnostic microfluidic systems for point-of-care testing. She plans to continue this work in precision medicine after graduation with the ultimate goal of transforming the one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare into a more individualized approach for improved patient care. 

Mentor: Dr. Steven Soper, KU Foundation Distinguished Professor, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering