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Dr. Megan Schilling, a 2009 graduate of North Schuylkill Jr.-Sr. High School, received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Biotechnology in 2013 and 2014, respectively, from Marywood University.

Immediately following, Dr. Schilling was accepted into the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences doctoral program at The Pennsylvania State University. Her PhD thesis focused on the immune response to Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in backyard poultry, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of the Program for Enhancing the Health and Productivity of Livestock, with extensive research performed in Tanzania. While at Penn State, she also participated in projects funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) focusing on the surveillance of especially dangerous pathogens — including Anthrax, Brucella, and Coxiella — in bushmeat collected in Tanzania and the surveillance of NDV in backyard poultry and migratory waterfowl in India. In 2015, she was awarded the Dr. Jay P. Clymer Alumni Appreciation Award by Marywood University.

After graduation in August 2019, she spent time as a Postdoctoral Scholar at Penn State, then in October 2019 was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Navy Medical Service Corps, beginning her service as a Microbiologist at the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) in Silver Spring, MD. She serves as Department Head for the Diagnostics and Surveillance Department, overseeing 15+ research projects and over $6 million in research funding. She also led COVID-19 diagnostic testing at NMRC to support Department of Defense testing efforts in the Naval Infectious Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory (NIDDL).

Additionally, she was an Investigator on the COVID-19 Health Action Response for Marines (CHARM) study to shape Marine Corps COVID-19 mitigation efforts during basic training, and was involved in studies to produce a COVID-19 vaccine and support global surveillance with multiple international partners. Throughout her career, Dr. Schilling has published over 30 peer-reviewed research articles and presented her work at multiple international scientific conferences. She has been awarded the National Defense Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.