Fellowship & Life at UCLA

<p>I think find the right organization that prioritizes and values a diverse Workforce because realistically that's where you know that there is going to be a lot of effort and attention paid to your [Music] well-being hi everyone it's brangi sha with the fellowship review through the American Journal of healthcare strategy today's episode is extremely special for me because not only do I get to introduce a good friend but also a fellow cooworker and former fellow at the same organization where I did my fellowship but no spoilers yet so I'm going to welcome smiry on to the episode for today thanks for joining me and why don't you kick it off by telling our listeners a little bit about yourself yeah thank you for having me I am so excited to have this conversation with you and for everyone my name is SMY I am a uh program manager at UCLA health currently and I work for the hospital cancer services department so not only are rangi and I friends but we also are colleagues and peers because we work in the same Department um I am originally from India I was born and brought up in India and then I moved to the US in 2015 for my undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at llum college and then I spent a couple of years working in research and subsequently got my uh mph in Healthcare Management at Yale University and like rangi alluded to I am um I used to be the administrative fellow in 2023 through 2024 um and I am really excited to dig right into the details of my fellowship yeah and what an incredible journey which I'm definitely going to be highlighting and calling out but you know let's start with the fact that you know international student were able to navigate the undergraduate kind of Journey you also successfully navigated The Graduate School Journey um and a lot of our listeners know that a big part of graduate school and also just you know being a highered student in the US is internships and you know you had first of all you had incredible research assistant roles throughout your career but then two internships that I really want you to speak on um and you know educate our listeners on are The Graduate intern role that you did with Yale hospital and then also the grad intern role you did with UC Health in Fort Collins uh Colorado and so why don't you tell us um tell us a little bit about both of those experiences some unique things projects that you want to highlight and what that was like yeah I um I think um the first thing that I'll say is um internships are so critical for for um for any of your programs particularly in grad school and I know that um International students have a lot of challenges um in navigating those internships a lot of the times due to the lack of understanding on the employer side of what an uh international student can or cannot do so in terms of navigating the landscape generally I spent a lot of time um at the office hours for my international student advisers to be like hey what is this process what does a CPT mean what does an opt mean what can I do and I often played the role of the translator between the um the international student office and the employer as applying to where in my interviews I would highlight hey I'm an international student but also you will have no issues for me working for you temporarily because of all of these legal Provisions that the government has made and so that's a comment on the overall Logistics of the operations but in terms of the internships itself I was incredibly privileged to um work at two major health systems across the country in various departments um either during a summer internship at UC UC Health in Colorado in Fort Collins where I was the only graduate administrative intern in my cohort who was in the northern region and um which meant that I got a lot of mentorship from the co of the hospital um Ryan Roman um I spent um time working on Executive leadership projects so I spent um some time um working on um updating our on call policy especially coming out after the pandemic where we were trying to look holistically on what are all the different services that have on call coverage currently what is the utilization and how do we make sure that we're appropriately aligning financial resources on call resources to what the patient demand is and so that was a incredible project I got to participate in and um in trying to understand not only the operational elements and the patient care elements but also some of the financial um analysis that goes um in that process and the other project I work there on which I um also want to call out was UC Health is very committed to um supporting leadership and um making sure that um senior leadership is actively participating in active daily management within the organization so I learned a lot from UCLA health hint to why I applied in the future on how we embody um daily rounding and Senior uh senior leadership rounding um systematically within the organization um those were my two big projects in my summer and then I did a practicum which is Yale University which is where I got my graduate program uh went to graduate school um they have a a a one to two credit course that you can take in um during the course of your semester where you work with different organizations in the um in Connecticut and the tri-state area um for getting some real life experience in working in health administration and so um I was lucky enough to work with the anchor mission in uh the anchor mission strategy for Yale New Haven Health System where I worked with u the VP of Health Equity at the time uh to develop the different pillars like systematically add different initiatives to the different anchor pillars you can look up the Anor mission network if you're very curious about Health Equity Ros started it I believe um to come up with a way to um embed big Health Systems like UC Health like YB Haven Health and UCLA to um invest in the community and build the community from the ground up in addition to providing Healthcare and so I worked a lot on um uh inclusive hiring practices and I learned a lot from the team and I'm um really grateful for that experience yeah both of those experiences um you know sound so incredible and I so so appreciate you adding that international student perspective so please feel free to do that for the rest of you know our recording because I I really do want this episode to benefit anyone interested in Yale or UC or UCLA but especially International students because I think there is an added layer of difficulty to your journey in acquiring things like a fellowship um and so moving right along you know you incredibly accomplished um an intelligent individual you had a lot of paths that you could have taken you could have been a consultant you could have gotten a job you could have gone back into research and science but you chose a fellowship so you know tell our listeners um how do you find out about administrative fellowships and what ultimately LED you to apply to one as opposed to all the other options you have yeah um and for full transparency I apply to both Consulting roles and to um to Fellowship roles um but ultimately ended up choosing the fellowship because I felt like it most benefited my path and I'm happy to delve into the details um but um I am incredibly privileged that yel School of Public Health has a very strong um Career Development Office where um we have folks in the uh School of Public Health uh Team who will work who will meet with all of the students in the program and sort of um help shape their uh careers uh by giving them U advice on what are all the different things available by attending we were um we were as part of our um requirements for graduating we had to attend professional um professional development Series so we had resume building workshops we had um career coaches who came and talk to us about the different Pathways and so I think I had a lot of systematic support in figuring out which path was right for me and my internship at UC Health in the administrative landscape really solidified my interest in pursuing something that was healthcare administration but then to exactly your point we had consulting or fellowships and I didn't want to limit myself at that moment especially because I'm an international student and I wanted to make sure that I got the right training under my belt and so I took a shotgun approach where I applied to both of those but I was really picky so I chose different Industries but I was um I was selective in how many or what programs I applied to um and so with that I think um the fellowship really gave me an understanding of well I want to be in the provider base and I want to um become a lot more knowledgeable in this area but then again in hospital admin there are so many different facets that you can go into you can go into risk you can go into operations strategy Finance quality you have all of these different buckets and I didn't know where I quite fit in and I think a fellowship allowed me to get an exposure into all of those different areas do projects across all of these different areas and then but get myself time to get acclimated to those and figure out where exactly I wanted to be and so that's the decision I ended up pursuing gotcha gotcha and I'm so glad you ended up coming towards the fellowship side because then obviously we got to meet each other um but you know let's take a step into that process then you know uh Fellowship the entire process is incredibly competitive it can be very you know challenging at times but very rewarding so what was that like for you I know you mentioned you had a great career center you also were very selective but if you're willing to share you know what was the fellowship application and interview process maybe what were some things that surprised you um and kind of what ultimately you to pick uh you know LED you to pick UCLA health yeah I think um yeah in terms of the fellowship application process um I was late is to the game I um I was still in the middle of my internship and I know so many folks that in my class even started working on their personal statements way in advance they um but I um took my time in making sure that I was set on apply to fellowships and I think the in terms of like the application process itself I did a lot of homework even though I started late I spent a lot of time meeting with folks from different organizations meeting past fellows or combing through the websites or talking to my classmates who did internships at all of these different areas and I felt like that really furthered my understanding of what a fellowship is like and what an organization is like because ultimately I only applied to four Fellowship programs which is um which is um very small um and UCLA health was the only Fellowship I applied to on the west coast um and then um and then I applied to one in in the Midwest and two in the Northeast um because I was pretty picky about geographical locations I wanted to be in a major metropolitan area I wanted to be in an academic Medical Center and um I wanted to be in an organization that um emphasized um the humanity in healthcare and I think UCLA health um was the organization that it did it the best and so when I was applying I did a lot of research I spoke to a lot of people um and ultimately picked the four and I think um in terms of um how that worked out I think it worked out really well um and I think a lot of it because was because there was that alignment between the places I applied to and um and um and what I believed in personally and and what I believed in in the mission for healthcare um because I would have happily taken a job in any of the four organizations and um I obviously preferred UCLA health that was my number one and so um I'm just really glad that it worked out that way yeah absolutely um and and I think one thing I'll draw attention to in your last answer that that you said that I always draw attention to anytime a guest mentions it it's the fact that it's a good thing that you're selective with your locations because you have to live there you know so I think there's a lot of value in not just picking organizations for their for their name but rather understanding that you may be building a life in this city or town and if you're going to spend 40 hours a week or whatever at work there's still your evenings and your weekends which you spend outside of work and it's important for you to be able to like that place and build community there so appreciate you you know kind of highlighting that you were very selective with the cities that you picked for your fellowship so that's good advice um and so we we arrive at your fellowship and of course you're several months out of your fellowship now so new to your program manager role of course but you have your fellowship checked off you know um tell our listeners about first you know the UCLA health Fellowship Logistics wise um for those that listen to my episode this will not be new information but for our new listeners um you know tell us is it one year two-year Project based rotation based and um you know what is kind of the logistics around how the fellowship is structured yeah I think um and kudos to the um the fellows that preceded me hinten rangi um uh I think our our fellowship program and our onboarding is um incredibly well structured we are a oneyear project-based fellowship program um primarily within Hospital operations but that's not a limiting factor um while we do most of our day-to-day under the pre uh under the leadership and preceptorship of Drew W who is the director of Hospital operations we um do projects sort of across the Enterprise and across the three Flagship campuses and the um 250 plus ambulatory um Clinic networks that we have and um the um the process itself is very very I call it the white glove service of fellowships because um there is someone guiding you along that process even before you come to UCLA help for your program from the get-go um I know rash shangi you and I uh met on a monthly basis leading up to the fellowship where we t talked all details about what the program is um structured like what housing looks like what um the different resources we have access to um and so on and so forth so I think in terms of that there's also a lot of um guidance um and in terms of the project work itself I would say it is a guided pick your own journey in that there is um there are all these different areas and trajectories you can go down um but they're they're not a wild goose chase so for example um I wanted to work primarily in our um in our service Lin so UCLA has U four primary service lines we have oncology or cancer we have orthon neurospine we have uh transplant and cardiac and then we have Women's and Children's Services and um I given my previous experience in research and during my internship experiences I really wanted to get a clearer understanding and lot of experience under my belt working with our service line directors to understand how we do inpatient outpatient coordination and how we make sure that a patient's journey is seamless and so um I spent a lot of my time in projects there but I also did projects in strategy and some that were business planning and finance and in each um there are people who are bought into the fellowship program our senior leaders really um are intimately familiar with the fellowship program and so you um get paired with someone in a different department or a different team and you work with them for your projects but then you come back um under the leadership of operations to figure out what your next steps are and they are the people that you go to when you want to sort of unwind some of the Kinks or U problems that you encounter along the way yeah absolutely and and I think you know shout out to Drew um but having a preceptor who also was a former fellow and then having a strong Fellowship network of previous fellows so willing to help the new fellows is what I think made your experience but also my experience um you know so special because the fellow before me oby incredible really helped me get settled way before I even started at the health system and so thank you for giving us that overview um and I know in your response you kind of listed off various areas that you worked in but any specific projects that you did during your fellowship that you want to highlight that really stuck out or what were like a good experience for you as a fellow yeah and I think this going back to the earlier question of why a fellowship versus a regular job I think is because of the kind of magnitude and scope of projects that you get to work on as a fellow that you sometimes get shielded off from when you are doing um a job that isn't a fellowship ultimately uh the purpose of a fellowship is education and um and mentorship um the projects I think are Great Value ad for both the organization and for yourself to sort of get that experience but the most is where you're in the weeds learning as you go and so I want to highlight a project that is um I think a career project for a lot of folks they they wait their entire careers to do something uh that I got a chance to be a small part of which was the um the um operations transition of the um UCLA West Valley Medical Center formerly um an HCA hospital by the name of West Hills uh hospital and I was um working very closely with our senior leadership um uh operations Finance Human Resources quality strategy to um to tr all of the Milestones um which incredible feet that we were able to pull off in 90 days of um getting a fully operational hospital and transitioning that to a UCLA health facility without compromising the um high quality patient care that we're really known for at UCLA health and so I um um did a lot of work in making sure that nothing falls through the cracks whether it be linen services or whether it be making sure that there's Transportation making sure that um our employees the new employees at West Valley are able to get their meal passes by swiping their badge and so um I wasn't the person who was doing all of these because they are way out of my expertise Zone but I was sort of project managing the entire um transition and that was quite an experience I think I was I was incredibly surprised that I um that we did that and didn't did that without breaking into too much of a sweat yeah absolutely no incredible experience and you know you did mention this and it set us up perfectly for the next question that I want to ask um a big reason and and you already said this but a big reason students end up a lot of the time pursuing fellowships is because you know the access and exposure to incredible Healthcare leaders and mentors in a specific health system and honestly even across the US um so what was and and you know for us mentorship was very different fellow to fellow so speak a little bit about what mentorship was like for you you know not only with your direct preceptor but also with the various leaders you had the opportunity to work with throughout your fellowship yeah I uh one thing that I will say right off the B to is um and I learned this during the fellowship is mentorship doesn't always have to be formal it doesn't always have to be a meeting it doesn't have to be a standing calendar check-in I think it's great if they happen to be how your approach to mentorship is but a lot of the times um informal conversations when you pass someone along the hallway or the conversations that you have after the meeting has completed and you're all heading back to the office I think can also be incredible goldmines for getting that knowledge because um a lot of the leaders and I think across different Health Systems particularly at UCLA health are world renowned in their field and they're so humble and eager to share some of th those experiences that I think it's about finding the right moment whether it be formal or informal and then asking the right question that I think really um makes that conversation a meaningful one um and outside of um the direct preceptorship um and sponsorship that we get from the CEO of the Hospital Richard AAR and Drew W who is the director of Hospital operations um I also U was incredibly lucky to uh be under the guidance of various leaders across the health system both in hospital operations but also um in other departments um a lot of them happened during our meet and greets so we um as at UCA health and across other Fellowship systems your first few weeks are think of it like a speed dating but for meeting Healthcare Executives and uh and learning more about what they do and so I um we my co-fellows Alysa who was incredible um and I did a lot of these meet and greets where um uh I felt like oh I've asked a lot of great questions and I think I've learned a lot but I'm not like I'm I it I I think there's more and I want to learn more and so then um I reached out to the director of General Services Norm that um uh the chief Pharmacy officer who also interviewed me um and um uh and other leaders um including the service line leaders that I had a working relationship with in projects um who I met either for updates on projects and then we had conversations after or um either ask questions in passing or had um standing uh time on the calendar every quarter so I had a allsize fits approach that was um really valuable and we talked mostly about informal things we talked about what was happening in our lives what life in La is like but even in those moments I think you get an understanding of how they approach leadership and how they really guide you into all of these different experiences without ever making you feel like you're on the spot and I think I learned a lot from that um and then the network of past fellows including you rangi I think I learn every day um from and I think it makes mentorship um not something that's daunting or formal but way more approachable because ultimately it's uh about finding people that you admire and um and asking them well how did you get there what uh and learning more about their Journey so it's about that personal connection yeah absolutely absolutely thank you for sharing that um and you know again you finish the fellowship and of course you stayed at UCLA which we love um tell our listeners what do you do now I know you're only a couple months in but you know remind us what your title is and also what does that entail yeah so I am now started in August I'm sorry my uh teams keeps going off because uh but anyways so um I am the program manager for Hospital Cancer Services um which which are all Hospital licensed services that um a lot of our um uh cancer uh patients who have cancer utilize and so what that entails is um I do um all of the business planning and expansion initiatives for all hospital-based infusion areas um I um also manage um as part of my responsibility the adult hemoglobinopathy program which includes diseases like CLE cell and making sure that patients who have sickle cell have a um have a seamless experience in making sure that all of their Healthcare needs are met um as well as uh working on uh different transition initiatives um for the newly acquired UCLA West Valley system and so um I think the great part about this role um is that it has a lot of potential and areas to explore into I remember uh during my first one-on-one with my manager um uh she asked me what do you want to do and I said I want to do everything I am new to the oncology world I have so much to learn and I want to learn it all and the great part about working for um for Hospital Cancer Services is we do almost everything and a lot because not only is our oncology centers and infusion centers serving patients with canc but it's also um meeting the needs of other areas that have specialty infusion needs and so I I I call it the I uh i dub it the mini Fellowship experience where I'm not doing everything across everywhere but I get to dab in a little bit of everything that is um under the footprint of cancer yeah absolutely no what it's been incredible you know watching you through your fellowship and now um acclimating so quickly and and so well to your new role so I'm excited to kind of follow your journey as um you get more and more comfortable in your role um but you know the two questions that I love to kind of end all of my episodes with which I'm absolutely going to ask you um you know Los Angeles big city diverse very different than a lot of places around the US and of course you've moved around quite a bit in your life so maybe you're better at this than most but you know often times your fellowship requires you to move cross country which of course you did so what was that transition like what is something you want to share with our listeners from your perspective about living in Los Angeles and adjusting from you know the east coast to to LA and and to California in general yeah you and I have talked about this um a little bit too um I wasn't convinced I was going to make it in LA because um I moved here U never having driven myself anywhere I got my driver's license a month before I moved to LA and La notoriously um and maybe uh incorrectly is seen as a driving only city and I was very nervous coming in I um what especially because I'm used to um a pretty autonomous life I moved um uh out of I went to boarding school and I have been living independently since I was 14 no 13 and so I was like well I don't know how I'm going to get around La and is that going to really hamper my style um and luckily for me um La is a beautiful Oasis that uh really lends itself to exploration if you give it the chance and I think that's what I've learned is um I am incredibly lucky I cannot emphasize that enough that I came to LA in the right place and met the right people either at work um and in our friendship or by um really uh putting myself out there I remember I go to the farmers market I kept seeing the same person in the Farmers Market like four times in a row and um and I was like hey I like I think we live close by to each other which again in hindsight seems a little excessive but again I think we really formed a friendship out of it and um I uh tried to immerse myself in activities in the community I um do standup uh I uh met my a big group of people doing standup in La I um tried volleyball will not do it again but I met folks there um and I think really La is um a city where I think unlike the East Coast you really get the sense that people here are also really eager and willing to engage with you and if you just look past the perception of what La is like I think it's truly a magical City and you can navigate public Transportation pretty easily here and so you you can drive and I think it makes your life much better if you drive but you don't have to and I think it's really about finding the people and I know that it's really hard uh but I think I also surrender pitously and also by um trying really hard um found a really good group of people and I think it's made La really beautiful I love that no I la I think the way I see this city um is that there is something for everyone you just have to be willing to go out and find it it's not going to come to you um and you know the last question I I tend to end on this one um hindsight is such a gift and when you look back you get a full understanding of an experience and life in general and so now for you when you look back at your fellowship application cycle the journey that you went on and of course now the completion of your fellowship any you know advice for people pursuing this path specifically International students um anything you would change about what you did yeah I think um and this is a shout out to all of my international student folks I know that employment after graduation is something that um is really um tricky to navigate as an international student um and I really empathize and understand your struggle and um with that I'll also say a lot of the times um leading with honesty for me was the biggest I always said I'm International I don't need visa sponsorship now but will require one in the future um and here are all the things that um all the all the experiences I bring to the table and really at least for me and I think it's true for a lot of the different um folks here everyone's really talented and bring and add a lot of value and it's really in communicating what that could be or what that future could look like and so um highlight your story in your interviews because the right organization will really care about that and make sure that like UCLA heal very graciously and Incredibly supported me through my journey of um navigating employment after the fellowship and making sure that all of my people work is in place and so I think find the right organization that prioritizes values a diverse Workforce because realistically that's where you know that there is going to be a lot of effort and attention paid to your well-being um but in terms of the application process I think um this is something that we tell all the folks who apply for fellowships really fellowships are really competitive there are a high volume of applications that come in and ultimately what makes you stand out from another candidate who went to an incredibly um reputable University and has an incredible um list of experiences is really your why and your story because ultimately what you bring to the table is really unique and the mo and the more you're able to convey that story I think the the more likely it is that someone else um picks up what you're putting down right and yeah that's my big advice is stay true to who you are um and uh try to share a story that strikes that connection to someone else's Humanity I think that's really critical yeah all great advice and I like I said earlier I'll just repeat it appreciate the international student lens because again um I don't want to minimize um how difficult the fellowship journey is it it's not it's very very difficult but I think there is an added layer of things you have to pay attention to and be mindful of when you have that kind of label of international student as well so I truly appreciate you know your perspective um and of course this is biased but this episode has been so fun with you and and I know that you know it's going to be incredible for traditional applicants and fellows it'll be helpful for international students so I'm really excited for you know the release of this episode but thank you for your time um and I just I really enjoyed talking to you tonight yeah how exciting that we get to do this and um for everyone listening consider UCLA health we we have good people here</p>