Becky Byler

Becky Byler's picture
Degree Program: 
Ph.D.

Becky Byler is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering. As a Whitaker International Fellow and NIH Fogarty GHES Fellow, Becky has spent the past two years conducting her doctoral research in residence at Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas (CIDEIM) in Cali, Colombia. Her dissertation work seeks to rationally design novel therapeutics for cutaneous leishmaniasis using biomaterials, nanotechnology, and human-centered design principles. Byler focuses her interest in global health and humanitarian engineering through the integration of her applied scientific research with complementary field-based community health work and international policy advocacy across Latin America including in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Honduras, and Ecuador. She is particularly passionate about enhancing equitable access to medical technologies, reducing R&D barriers for neglected disease biotechnologies, and ensuring human rights-based responses to epidemics and protracted health crises in Latin America. Becky has worked at the United Nations and The Carter Center. She also volunteers with Engineers Without Borders and leads STEM outreach programs for traditionally underrepresented groups. Byler holds a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) from Yale University and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Ultimately, Byler hopes to engineer solutions to improve public health, with a particular focus on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) endemic to Latin America, and designing effective, affordable technologies for such resource-constrained settings.

Department: 
Biomedical Engineering
Expected Year of Graduation: 
Class of 2021