Meghan Scott
Title of Program: Histochemistry and Forensic Anthropology
E-mail Address: mscott95@vols.utk.edu
Hometown: Fort Wayne, IN
Year: Sophomore
Anticipated Graduation Date: Fall 2025
Description of Program:My program explores the study of the identification of injury and disease through examination of evidence gathered by forensic anthropological and histochemical techniques. The program also emphasizes the underlying physical and chemical processes at the foundation of anatomy and physiology and stresses a cellular approach to pathology. In medicolegal investigations where identification of cause, mechanism and manner of death are difficult to determine through traditional gross examination of decedents, histochemistry might provide valuable insight. If histochemical procedures cannot be performed in the case that diagnostically significant tissue samples are in short supply, forensic anthropology can be an advantageous investigative tool for the pathologist. It is the cooperation between histochemistry and forensic anthropology that best resolves lingering obscurity and incompleteness in death investigations, and command of these ancillary or supplementary procedures can help eliminate misidentification or indetermination of post-mortem diagnosis. This program focuses on achieving mastery in this area of study by establishing a background in anthropology, biochemistry, mathematics and sociology. An understanding of this constellation of subjects is necessary to successfully build a specialty in this part of the medical field.
Departmental Emphases: Anthropology, BCMB, Chemistry, Sociology
Faculty Mentor(s): Dr. Joanne Devlin
Plans After Graduation (career, graduate/professional school, etc.): After obtaining an undergraduate degree, I plan to pursue a medical degree through either an accelerated three-year program or a traditional four-year path and complete a residency in pathology. I wish to become a certified forensic pathologist and handle obscure autopsies, second autopsies, and exhumation autopsies where traditional medical examination does not yield results. I also hope to contribute to histopathology research, as it is an under-funded and largely unexplored field. A major research focus of mine is using quantitative analysis to develop forensic pathology standards which may increase the accuracy of autopsy results and the rate at which the cases are solved.
Other Academic Interests: Restorative Justice, Criminology, Political Science, Philosophy, French
Prior Enrollment at Other Colleges or Universities: N/A
Study Abroad: I plan to conduct research abroad in a Francophone country.
Research Experiences or Internships: I am currently a Research Assistant for Dr. Morgan’s project Race, Pandemic, and Democracy, a qualitative survey experiment on racial inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Part-time Employment; Hobbies; Campus Clubs/Activities: I offer tutoring services to students at all levels ranging from elementary to college in a variety of math, biology, chemistry, English and history classes. My primary goal in tutoring is to present class content in a way that is compatible with an individual student’s learning style, which often involves using a medley of teaching techniques. In my free time, I read Enlightenment period literature, absurdist plays, DC comic books, and books about cinema studies and systematic musicology. I also enjoy volunteering, writing, tap dancing, playing card games and speaking Klingon.
Any Other Information to Add?: There is an exigency for novel ideas and innovation in forensic pathology, not only for the purposes of advancing medical science, but also for assuring equal distribution of justice. Concentrating efforts and resources into pathology research is an effective way to forward these causes. In addition to what is mentioned above, research interests of mine include the role of cognitive bias and prejudice in medical examination, reevaluating the coroner system, wound vitality, heavy metal toxicology, HiP-CT and synchrotron-based tissue imaging, adipocere formation, and whole-slide imaging for digital pathology. All of these lines of inquiry lead back to the essential question of my program: how can post-mortem investigative techniques such as histochemistry and forensic anthropology be used to identify cause and mechanism of disease and injury?