Some kids get college scholarships for playing football.  Some get them for exceptional talent in music or art.  Marilyn Piccirillo, 18, a senior at Parkway West High School, won a $15,000 college scholarship for her study, “Enterococcal Catheter-Associated Bloodstream Infections: Is Removal of the Catheter Necessary for Successful Management?”

Huh?

All you really need to know about this is Marilyn is pretty smart.  She got the scholarship from the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered by the College Board.

Before you reach for your dictionary again, epidemiology, according to the group, “explores patterns of disease, illness and injury within populations with the goal of developing methods for prevention, control and treatment to improve health.”

Got that?

Here’s a bit more about Marilyn’s study, from the YES Competition:

Marlilyn examined data at Barnes Jewish Hospital regarding patients diagnosed with an enterococcal blood stream infection, and compared the outcomes of patients whose central venous catheters were removed to those where the intravenous lines were left in place. Her analysis suggests that removal of the catheter is associated with better results in terms of cure of the blood stream infection and other major medical complications.

More than 560 students entered this contest nationwide, and Marilyn was among ­­60 high school students selected to present their projects to a top panel of epidemiologists in Washington D.C.   She was one of 12 finalists.

Marilyn’s work also won her a $2,000 scholarship this year at the Greater St. Louis Science Fair.  She’s qualified to complete at the International Science & Engineering Fair in Nevada in May and will receive an all-expense-paid trip to this event.

She’s going to attend Washington University in the fall to study public health and international relations.