Master of Health Administration

I walked into the class.

It is still taught today by Dr. Ryung Suh over at Georgetown's Masters of Healthcare Administration program.

And I remember sitting there at the end of class being dumbfounded, awestruck that this career existed, that no one told me but spoke to me.

And from that moment on, I did everything I could to ensure that I became a healthcare operations consultant.

Yeah.

And I wasn't sure if I wanted my MHA or my MBA.

Yeah.

I thought, well, I was a patient care manager and a patient care

I know at the time, after I completed my bachelor's, I worked at the local hospital for about two years.

And I know during that time, I was battling between MPH and I think it was like Masters of Healthcare Administration.

I was stuck between those two, as well as like a Masters of Public Administration.

So I was... stuck between all those but i think the one thing that that kind of pulled me closer into the MPH was the science that was in it.

called the National Association of Health Service Executives.

I went to St. Louis University and I had a dual major, a Juris Doctor, which is a law degree and a Master of Health Administration.

And really, my big goal for even being a nurse and going out to get higher education was to solve problems that I saw as a bedside nurse that I didn't particularly see.

I knew that I needed to learn more in order to make a really big impact.

And that in order for us to really make a big difference in these kinds of resources and really make a difference in the communities that I aim to serve, I really had to understand the legislative process that is Medicaid and Medicare, as well as the negotiation process and really understanding how to navigate health insurance contracts.

So that led me to St. Louis University's, the top ranked year after year school in healthcare law.

It also had a highly ranked master of health administration program that I could do at the same time.

So I really got that legal and business education all in one place.

I could have gone one of three ways.

MBA, MPA, MHA, Master's in Health Administration.

Wasn't quite sure exactly where I was going to wind up in my career.

So I thought, you know, let's be flexible.

So I kind of wanted to be flexible in that sense.

Plus the availability, MBA programs are so much more widely available.

I found that MPA programs or MHA programs So that's also kind of, and I don't regret that.

I think that's a really good motive, unless you're pretty much 100% sure where you want to go.

Take a gap year and MCAT, med school applications and whatnot to get back on cycle.

or do an MHA or MPH.

And I decided to do my MHA through the University of Houston-Clear Lake one year, and then the goal was back to med school.

That was my dad's wish as well.

And I started volunteering at the VA.

I, I'm working as a lead patient service administrator at, uh, Endeavor Health, located here in Skokie, Illinois, just about 25 minutes from downtown Chicago.

I just recently graduated from Loyola University Chicago, completing my MHA degree.

A great experience.

Met a lot of great people who've had, uh, such a gr- a huge impact on what it, what public health really means to me.