Megan Applewhite, MD, MA
Megan Applewhite, MD, MA
Associate Professor of Surgery
Associate Director, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics
Specialties
- Endocrine Surgery
- General Surgery
- Surgical Oncology
Locations
- Chicago - Hyde Park
- Orland Park
- About
- Specialties & Areas of Expertise
- Locations & Patient Information
- Education & Research
- Accepted Insurance
- External Professional Relationships
My name is Megan Applewhite. I am an endocrine surgeon, which effectively means that I operate on the glands, including the thyroid gland, the parathyroid glands, the adrenal glands. I also take out lymph nodes in the neck if they should be involved with cancer. So I operate on people who have surgical endocrinopathies, as they say, so troubles with their thyroid or parathyroids or adrenals that would require surgery.
I chose to become a physician because I felt like I have ease with communication with people who don't have a familiarity with the medical language or the medical jargon. And I really do love communicating with people about their medical problems and putting it into phrases, into explanations, into a description that they understand and that makes sense to them with their bodies and their context.
I chose UChicago Medicine because I really love taking care of the patient population that the University of Chicago serves. I have all of the resources that are available to me of a major academic center, and I have a community of patients who depend on us and who really do deserve the best care. And so it's a pleasure and it's a tremendous responsibility to deliver that care to them and one that I think is really important that I don't take for granted.
My philosophy of care is that patients know themselves best. And I think that aa anxiety provoking as surgery can be, or the prospect of having a surgery or even having a new diagnosis, for as scary as that can be, my philosophy is that if you can establish a good trusting relationship with your doctor or with your nurse or with your care team that that can, in fact, be a positive experience and one in which you build more trust in the medical system, more trust in your team. And you can be better off for it, quality of life, and ideally quantity of life if we're able to afford that.
When patients come into the office, they frequently come in with different levels of understanding of their specific diagnosis options for care, alternatives that may not be surgery related. And I think that it's my responsibility to meet patients where they are and when they come into the office and understand what they know about their diagnosis and meet them there and then describe surgery as I think that it may help them specifically with their situation.
So two patients with thyroid problems may have very different treatment plans and very different understanding of what options there are. And so I think that it's my job to just be very upfront with them and very clear with them and compassionate with them, recognizing that it's a very anxiety provoking thing to be sitting in the office of a surgeon, and I like to make it as comfortable as I can and to be as trustworthy as possible so that we can help patients do the best they can.
In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Applewhite conducts valuable research surrounding the care of endocrine surgery patients, as well topics at the intersection of surgery and clinical medical ethics. In her role as the Associate Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, she focuses on bioethics education and research ethics, including the challenges surrounding surgical informed consent. Her work in clinical research, as well as ethics research, has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Surgery, Annals of Internal Medicine, American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, The American Journal of Bioethics and more.
As a dedicated teacher, she has guided medical students as they are embarking on their medical career, and as a committed mentor for residents and fellows; Dr. Applewhite makes positive impacts on countless individuals as they are cementing their specialty. Dr. Applewhite continues to inspire and educate the next generation of healthcare professionals.
Specialties
- Endocrine Surgery
- General Surgery
- Surgical Oncology
Areas of Expertise
- Endocrine Cancer Surgery
- Parathyroid Surgery
- Thyroid Surgery
Board Certifications
- Surgery
Practicing Since
- 2016
Languages Spoken
- English
Medical Education
- Albany Medical College
Internship
- Lahey Hospital and Medical Center
Residency
- Lahey Clinic Medical Center
Fellowship
- University of Chicago Medical Center
Memberships & Medical Societies
- American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
- American Association of Endocrine Surgeons
- American College of Surgeons
News & Research
Insurance
- Aetna Better Health *see insurance page
- Aetna HMO (specialists only)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO
- BCBS Blue Precision HMO (specialists only)
- BCBS HMO (HMOI) (specialists only)
- BCBS Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- BCBS PPO
- Cigna HMO
- Cigna POS
- Cigna PPO
- CountyCare *see insurance page
- Humana Medicare Advantage Choice PPO
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Choice PFFS
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Plus HMO
- Medicare
- Multiplan PPO
- PHCS PPO
- United Choice Plus POS/PPO
- United Choice HMO (specialists only)
- United Options (PPO)
- United Select (HMO & EPO) (specialists only)
- United W500 Emergent Wrap
- University of Chicago Health Plan (UCHP)
Our list of accepted insurance providers is subject to change at any time. You should contact your insurance company to confirm UChicago Medicine participates in their network before scheduling your appointment. If you have questions regarding your insurance benefits at UChicago Medicine, please contact our financial counseling team at OPSFinancialCounseling@uchospitals.edu.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.