Libby Welborn

Libby Welborn is from Lookout Mountain, TN and is interested in combining the fields of healthcare and engineering.  Wake Forest Engineering has given her the opportunity to explore and pursue her love for healthcare and the medical field by combining medicine with problem solving from an engineering perspective.  Libby has worked to design an optimized expanded polytetrafluoroethylene prosthetic heart valve for pediatric patients under the guidance of Dr. Olga Pierrakos and Mr. Brandon Eberl (Wake Forest Engineering) during her senior design capstone course.  The goal of this project is to protect and improve the quality of life by providing a safe and affordable option for heart valve replacement, reducing the medical burden and financial stress on the families of younger patients.  Libby has enjoyed technical elective courses in Wake Forest Engineering, finding particular gratification in Tissue Engineering, which allowed her to pursue her interest in medicine.   She loves being able to make connections between medical and engineering fields and applying her engineering knowledge to improve the lives of others.

Libby has excelled outside of the classroom as well, acting as the treasurer for Reformed University Fellowship and proposing annual budgets to university administrators.  She was selected by WFU faculty to serve as a student advisor to the campus dean and served as a panelist in cases of social misconduct for individuals that broke WFU’s code of conduct.  Libby has also volunteered her time at the E-Learning Academy in Winston-Salem, orchestrating academic work for middle school students who were learning remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After graduation, Libby will join the Wake Forest Fellows program, where she will work in the Information Systems department.

Undergraduate Research – Design of Prosthetic Heart Valve, Spine Immobilization Project

Leadership – Dean’s Student Advisory Panel, Peer Leader for Judicial System, Reformed University Fellowship Treasurer

Other – Tutor at E-Learning Academy