PHII welcomes new Senior Technical Project Manager

PHII is pleased to welcome Megan Turk, MBA as a Senior Technical Project Manager. In this role, she will oversee the technical processes for CHAMPS, a collaborative effort led by the Emory Global Health Institute and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal of the CHAMPS Network is to provide accurate and reliable data on the causes of death and sickness for children under five to improve health outcomes and quality of life.

Megan Turk is the new Senior Technical Project Manager for CHAMPS.

Megan’s love of data and her background—a blend of science and business—are a natural fit for the mission of CHAMPS.

Her appreciation of science came early. Her father, a pediatric neurologist, and her mother, a movement disorder nurse meant that Megan easily found her major at Emory University in neuroscience and behavioral biology. While she loved neuroscience, she didn’t want to be a clinician. Her first job out of college was with PAREXEL, a clinical research organization, in Boston.  She gained operational and management skills there and realized she enjoyed the business side of clinical research. 

She also realized she preferred the milder winters of Atlanta and came back to Emory, working as a senior admission advisor for Emory College. She grew her communications skills and also worked with data and statistical models, projecting annual enrollment and making sure admissions decisions were consistent.

During this time, she began working on her MBA degree at Emory. At Goizueta she concentrated in finance, as well as decision and information analysis. Her studies connected back to her undergraduate degree and later to the mission of CHAMPS. “People often don’t invest in a logical way, and predicting financial or business decisions through analysis and modeling requires an understanding of human behavior. This field is actually similar to the work of CHAMPS—we’re gathering data to understand and change human behavior,” says Megan.

Her expertise using data continued with other positions at Emory. In the Development and Alumni Relations office, she used data as an important tool in identifying potential donors and forecasting fundraising.  Among other responsibilities, she also reviewed technologies in the marketplace to meet evolving departmental goals.

In her last position with Emory’s Library and Information Technology Services, Megan re-engaged with the research community. She worked with Emory professors and researchers to find technology solutions to support bio banking and clinical research needs. Her experience with products like REDCap—an impactful way to capture data electronically—is proving very useful for the needs of CHAMPS.

She is looking forward to working with the informatics and science teams at CHAMPS. “CHAMPS is a phenomenal project with an outstanding goal. It’s complex, and technology solutions may need to be customized per site. I’m looking forward to integrating IT solutions to meet the site specific process and data flow.” 

Between the work of CHAMPS and two young daughters, Megan doesn’t have much leisure time, but she does enjoy exploring the Atlanta area through running and cycling. She participates in a Saturday morning running group and on Sunday mornings, you’ll find Megan and her family out riding bikes on the Beltline.