MESA, Ariz. (April 22, 2025) – Ella Bechtol has always been fascinated by the brain. From all of the information it holds, the capacity for memories, to the ability to learn, the 17-year-old Mesa student hopes to harness her own brain to help fix others’ someday -- by becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon.
Bechtol, who was born at Banner Baywood Medical Center, is now experiencing a full-circle moment as she volunteers weekly in the hospital’s pre-op department. Her mother was also a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital, a department which no longer exists there.
“I feel at home in the hospital,” Bechtol said. “Even though my volunteer work may seem small, I love being able to interact with patients and help make nurses’ jobs easier by taking care of things that often go unnoticed.”
When she’s not volunteering in the morning, she’s getting ahead in her packed school curriculum. Bechtol graduated from high school two years early and now majors in medical studies for pre-med with a minor in Spanish at Arizona State University, where she also plans to graduate early by taking more than 20 hours each semester.
Her ultimate goal?
To become a pediatric neurosurgeon in the U.S. Air Force. For now, she’s begun her medical journey by cleaning and setting up patient bays, delivering lab specimens and stocking supplies at the hospital.
Bechtol, who was a top 10 finisher in the Arizona Regional Brain Bee last year, plans on shadowing a surgeon at Banner Baywood soon to learn more and see what the field is like firsthand. When studying at home, she sometimes even plays surgery cases that she finds on YouTube in the background. While she knows she has a long way to go, Bechtol said she’s eager to make a difference in the medical field.
“People go into medicine to help others,” Bechtol said. “I want to do that for kids because they have the rest of their lives to live — they often have more hope than adults and I want to be a part of that hope.”
Banner Baywood Medical Center is an acute care hospital in Mesa, Ariz. The hospital is a Primary Stroke Center and also offers orthopedics, emergency care, surgery, cancer care and acute rehabilitation. The 50,000 square-foot Emergency department offers advanced Emergency care and medical imaging technology. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com/baywood.
For further information contact us at: media@bannerhealth.com
