5/7/2026
Carle Illinois College of Medicine Class of 2026 graduate Tessabella Magliochetti begins training as a surgeon in July, marking both a personal triumph and a progression toward solving important problems in healthcare. Her work during medical school demonstrates clinical excellence, engineering-informed innovation and entrepreneurship that improve patient care, and a commitment to mentoring others.
When Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED) Physician Innovator Tessabella Magliochetti begins training as a surgeon in July, it will be more than a personal triumph. Her new role is a progression toward solving important problems in healthcare and making a life-changing difference for patients, colleagues, and those who follow her path in medicine.
Magliochetti came to the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine from the East Coast with a resume that fit the college’s unique profile. She had earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in biomedical engineering with outstanding academic credentials, followed by years of industry experience developing and assessing the safety of new surgical devices. Magliochetti liked the work, but she wanted more.
“When I looked around in my company for a new role, I realized I could be the surgeon,” she said. She explored medical schools across the country, decided Carle Illinois was the perfect fit, and quit her job to pursue her goal of becoming a physician. After four years of excelling in CI MED’s classrooms, the clinic, and beyond, Magliochetti is headed to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where she will care for patients as a resident physician in general surgery.
For Magliochetti, purposeful problem-solving is at the heart of both engineering and medicine. She calls her decision to specialize in general surgery the ‘inevitable culmination’ of her engineering background and her drive to restore lives.
“I have spent my life learning how to fix things, but more importantly, how to fix things for people. Surgery allows me to do that every day.”
Tessabella Magliochetti
“The environment of the OR – with hands-on work where precision, teamwork, and adaptability mattered most – was the perfect fit for me. In the OR, I discovered that same problem-solving energy, but amplified by urgency and consequence,” she said.
In surgery, Magliochetti sees a broader opportunity to create solutions that apply to the entire healthcare system. Problem-solving surgeons and other specialists, she says, are in a unique position to create changes that bridge gaps and improve care delivery.
At CI MED, Magliochetti fully embraced the culture that fuels innovative healthcare solutions. Early in her medical school career, she founded AmnioAlert, a start-up company developing a wearable absorbent undergarment pad integrated with an amniotic fluid detection layer. The innovation is a cost-effective at-home solution to help expectant mothers distinguish urinary incontinence from amniotic fluid leakage that signals the onset of labor. Her team won $50,000 in funding at various pitch competitions, including as finalists in the Cozad New Venture Challenge and a first-place finish in TechRise Chicago.
“Leading this venture has reinforced my commitment to addressing critical gaps in healthcare through innovative solutions and interdisciplinary collaboration,” Magliochetti said. “CI MED's mission of training physician innovators exists for exactly this reason, and AmnioAlert is my proof of concept for what that looks like successfully in practice.” The AmnioAlert team took their innovation one step further, obtaining a provisional patent to protect future product development.
But not all innovation results in a new product. One of Magliochetti’s medical school passion projects addressed disparities in access to bone marrow and stem cell transplantation by connecting potential donors with patients in need. In 2022, Magliochetti brought the Gift of Life Marrow Registry to CI MED and the U. of I., organizing bone marrow donor drives and delivering presentations. One of those drives resulted in a match for a 64-year-old man with myelodysplastic disorder, a blood cancer in which blood cells don’t function properly. “Compassionate care extends far beyond the bedside,” she said. “It means advocating for patients awaiting transplants and creating opportunities to expand access to life-saving treatment.”
As with engineering, Magliochetti has chosen a field in which men outnumber women. In general surgery, the ratio is three-to-one. Nonetheless, she says she feels well-prepared not only to belong, but to lead.
“I think that being a strong female lead in the OR is really important."
"I really tried to seek out mentors, and a lot of them weren’t females because they [women surgeons] just weren’t there. I’m really excited to be a mentor as I have been to M1s and M2s [first- and second-year medical students] and will continue that throughout residency and throughout my career,” Magliochetti said.
She attributes her boldness and determined support for others to the three generations of women who raised her, none of whom graduated from college.
“The women who raised me never framed the world in terms of what was or wasn't meant for us. I never stopped to question whether I belonged, because I was never raised to,” she said. “My family gave me the values, grit, and belief that made everything else possible. That quiet confidence passed down has shaped every decision I have made and every door I have walked through without hesitation.”
On Saturday, May 9, 2026, Magliochetti will break new ground as the first in her family to earn a medical doctorate. She is one of 50 CI MED Physician Innovators who comprise the Carle Illinois College of Medicine Class of 2026.
Editor's note: The live stream of the Convocation Ceremony for the Class of 2026 is available here.
This article was written by Beth Hart. Video content was produced and edited by Virgil Ward.