SCHS Grad Working on Ph. D.

A Stephens County High School graduate is working towards a doctorate with the hopes that she will be able to help the living overcome their own skeletal challenges.

24-year-old Melanie Boeyer is working on her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science and has recently been accepted to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

She is focusing on the knee joint for her dissertation and will begin her studies in the Fall with her mentor, Dr. Dana Duren, working on a range of skeletal growth issues.

Dr. Duren has received a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to create a database of hand-wrist x-rays to help with clinical bone development.

After completing her Ph.D., Boeyer said her goal is to try to bridge the gap between research and actual patients in the waiting room.

She said she hopes to one day become both a professor and a researcher, allowing her to apply her bone knowledge to real life orthopedic situations in which the patient’s bone development may be affected.

Boeyer grew up in Martin and graduated from Stephens County High School in 2009.

She is the daughter of Jim and Suzie Boeyer.

Following high school, Boeyer graduated with a B.S. in Anthropology from Western Carolina University, focusing on Forensic Anthropology.

She will earn her Master’s Degree in Biological Anthropology at Mercyhurst University in May.