Dr. Breanna Sheahan, Principal Investigator

Dr. Breanna Sheahan is the Principal Investigator of the Sheahan Lab. She is an equine internist with board certification by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She grew up in California competing in combined driving. Dr. Sheahan obtained her veterinary degree from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, followed by an equine internship at University of Missouri, and an equine-focused large animal medicine residency at University of Illinois. She moved to North Carolina to pursue a PhD focused on intestinal stem cell biology, using mice as a model organism. After completion of the PhD, Dr. Sheahan worked as a post-doctoral associate at Duke University, under the direction of a human gastroenterologist. Dr. Sheahan started her lab at NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine in March 2022 and is very excited to be applying the research tools learned from other species on studying the horse.

 

Dr. Lilly Haywood, PhD Student

Dr. Lilly Haywood is a PhD student in the Sheahan lab.  She grew up riding and showing hunters in Raleigh before attending undergrad at Washington and Lee University and veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania.  After graduation, she spent eight years as an intern and then associate veterinarian at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY.  Her practice in Lexington focused on ambulatory neonatal medicine, preventative care, and emergency medicine.  She then spent almost two years as a small animal general practitioner in Chapel Hill before realizing that her goal in life is to help horses.  She is thrilled to be working towards that goal at NCSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Hedaya Megeed, Lab Manager

Hedaya Megeed is our lab manager extraordinaire! She is responsible for keeping the lab organized, shelves stocked, and media ready to go for all our experiments. In addition to all these tasks, Hedaya is also working on a study determining the bacterial load in peritoneal fluid of horses with colitis, and assisting with determining the media requirements for our cell cultures. We are so thankful for all her hard work and positive attitude!

 

Dr. Megan Ballou, Equine Internal Medicine Resident

Dr. Megan Ballou is a veterinary large animal (equine-specific) internal medicine resident working in the Sheahan lab, investigating equine gastric ulcer disease in relation to horses that have undergone colic surgery. She grew up in New Hampshire, showing Quarter Horses. Dr. Ballou is a graduate of Stonehill college in Massachusetts, where she earned a B.S. in Biology. Following this, she pursued a M.S. in Animal and Public Policy at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, where she investigated ownership of geriatric horses with and without chronic disease. Dr. Ballou earned her DVM from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where she also completed a rotating internship, before moving to Raleigh, N.C. Dr. Ballou is incredibly thankful for this opportunity and very hopeful for the potential clinical applications.

 

Lexa McDermott, Undergraduate (Soon to be veterinary student)

Lexa McDermott is an undergraduate Park scholar majoring in animal science and minoring in psychology and nutrition. She is originally from Minneapolis, MN, but attended high school in South Florida. Since the start of high school, she has volunteered with equine therapy non-profits and worked at a small animal clinic. At NCSU, she has volunteered at the Reedy Creek Equine Farm and the Thakur Molecular Epidemiology Lab. Lexa joined the lab in 2024 with a project focusing on equine rectal monolayers. In 2025, Lexa was accepted into NC State veterinary school as an early admission for the Equine Scholars program. Congrats Lexa!!