Leann Tengowski

I work as a Biomedical Engineer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The department I work for is called CELA (Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment). My main role is to set up and run simulations using high-fidelity (complex) mannequins. These simulations are made to train medical professionals, such as doctors, nurses, etc., how to respond to different real-life scenarios. The mannequins that we use actually breathe, have a heart beat, can make sounds, and much more.

I chose engineering originally because I wanted to go to medical school. However, once I got involved with the more technical aspects of engineering, I learned that I really enjoyed it. Biomedical engineering is a great field for me because I have a drive to help others and I also enjoy being technically challenged. There are even some roles in BME where I can get patient interaction, which helps satisfy my previous desire to go to medical school.

I went to Louisiana Tech University and received my B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a pre-medicine concentration. I also completed my Six Sigma Black Belt certification.

There is not really a typical day at work for me. Each day is different depending on how many simulations are scheduled and what types of simulations they are. There are some days when there are multiple simulations scheduled at the same time and there is a lot to set up, and there are some days where there are no simulations. On the days with nothing scheduled, we mostly work on fixing any problems we have with the mannequins or organize things. During simulations, I can either be the one to control the mannequin or I can be a simulated patient and be an actor in the simulation.

Senior year, we have to come up with an unmet clinical need and develop a solution. I came up with an unmet clinical need that I discovered during my internship at Boston Scientific. During the development of this project, I had a lot of doubts about this product because it didn't seem like a very creative solution. However, we talked with a few engineers from two major medical device companies and they seemed to be interested in our solution. They were very shocked that college students were trying to address this problem, and were intrigued with our approach to solve it. We even had a doctor who said he would be willing to try out our product if we were able to get it in production. Our team entered a business pitch competition and received a lot of positive feedback about our idea. Before this project, I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to do in engineering. However, this project showed me that I really enjoyed the development of devices and the entrepreneurial side of engineering. I never thought I was capable of making my own device, much less a company until I did this project.

The biggest challenge I have faced so far was finding a job due to COVID. I graduated in the peak of COVID and not many places were hiring. I moved to Nashville with my husband, and I had to work at Kroger for about 3 months. This was a difficult time for me because I was not seeing any hope of a job opening and things with COVID were not looking up. I applied to probably over 200 jobs, and I was even applying to non-BME jobs because I was getting desperate. Luckily, I heard back from VUMC with a BME job. Although this is not exactly what I want to do in my field, I was very grateful for the job.

I recently got married to my best friend that I met in college. We met during a summer program, and then quickly became best friends because we were both BME students. Our junior year, we had basically every class together and were in many of the same organizations. Now, we live in Nashville where he is working on his PhD in BME and I am working as a BME at VUMC. We have a dog named Lawine (pronounced LA-VEEN-A), which means avalanche in German. We also recently adopted a dog that followed us home. His name is Kip, which is chicken in Dutch because he gets scared very easily.

My short term goals are mostly to get involved in different opportunities in the engineering world to learn as much as I can. I recently signed up to be a SWE (Society of Women Engineers) mentee so I can have someone with more experience to ask questions and learn from. I am trying to stay involved in my local SWE chapter because I really enjoy the network, and I hope to be able to gain leadership opportunities with them.

My long term goals are to start a company, help students decide what they want to do (I know the struggle), and to be a great mom. As I said above, I really enjoyed the entrepreneurial aspect of engineering. My husband and I have discussed that if we do start our own company, we would try to help students in the south get internships with our company because there are not many medical device companies in the south. This is a problem for a lot of the BME students at LA Tech because the medical device companies usually partner up with schools close to them.

My last goal was to be a great mom. This is one thing that I am struggling with now because I am trying to determine how to balance my career and family. I want to foster kids, which means that I have to be very present in their lives. Trying to determine what job will allow me to do that has been a rather difficult.

I have always been a very empathetic person with a desire to help others. There are many careers that deal with helping others, but I wanted to directly see the impact that I was making on their lives. To me, the best job for that was a doctor. However, when I interned at Boston Scientific, I learned that engineers who make medical devices can also see the impact they make. Boston Scientific hosts an event called Everyone Makes an Impact where they have patients that received one of their devices talk about the impact that device has had on their lives. This made me realize how rewarding the job of a biomedical engineer is.

Don't be discouraged! I know when someone first suggested I study biomedical engineering I told them I didn't think I would be able to handle it. I had no background in engineering and I didn't even know the names of many tools. When I toured the engineering building at Louisiana Tech, I was very overwhelmed and scared of the big machines I saw. However, once I got into the program, I realized very quickly that I was capable of learning all of this new technical material. To help boost my confidence even more, I joined an organization that worked on building light-weight fuel-efficient cars. I didn't think I was going to be able to contribute at all to this club because I knew nothing about cars, but they were very willing to teach me everything. By the time I graduated, I ended up working in the lab that contains all of those big machines I was so afraid of.

The hobby that I am least proud about, but that takes up most of my time is watching Netflix. I have recently gotten into painting and scrapbooking. My favorite hobbies, even though I don't get to do them much, are kayaking and hiking. Another hobby that I am learning how much I enjoy is cooking/baking. I have been trying to make meals from different countries, which has been really fun!