Key Takeaways
- Administrative fellowships utilizing a generalist rotation model provide critical enterprise-wide exposure, allowing organizations to identify versatile leaders capable of navigating complex operational landscapes.
Why did Ashley Sekul choose the administrative route, and how did her background shape her leadership style?
Ashley Sekul’s path to the MD Anderson Cancer Center Administrative Fellowship started in the small-town warmth of Pensacola, Florida, and led her across the country—each stop adding a new dimension to her professional outlook.
“I really wanted a small-town feel… once I toured Ole Miss, I thought, this is just a place that feels like home where I can get to know everyone and not feel overwhelmed,” Ashley recalls about her undergrad choice. That experience in a close-knit academic environment not only grounded her but instilled a comfort with building relationships—a trait that later defined her leadership approach.
After earning her Biochemistry degree, Ashley gravitated toward Washington, D.C., for graduate school at George Washington University. “I mainly went for the location. I really wanted to be somewhere that had a large city…when you’re in DC, you have consulting, policy, insurance, and CMS,” she explains. The deliberate shift from rural Mississippi to the heart of U.S. healthcare policy reveals a theme in her journey: always seeking new perspectives, never shying away from complexity.
When did Ashley realize that healthcare administration, not medicine, was her calling?
Ashley’s early trajectory was classic premed: majoring in biochemistry, working as a scribe for a radiation oncologist in Dallas, and eyeing medical school. But within just a few months, her vision shifted. “It was actually only about three months of working as a scribe…and I think a lot of that had to do with working for a physician who was a female. Just hearing more about work-life balance, I started to wonder what this would look like for me,” she says.
Ashley didn’t abandon healthcare—she recalibrated her role in it. She recognized that she “needed to be in healthcare…surrounded by people who are driven by a mission of helping those who are sick.” But, as she put it, she also wanted the freedom to explore other interests: “I was a biochemistry major but a journalism minor, so I always just had this part of me that liked not just science—there was something more.”
This openness to self-discovery is emblematic of many future fellows and leaders who realize the best impact sometimes happens not at the bedside, but at the systems level.
How did Ashley’s internships across communications, policy, and engagement shape her approach to healthcare leadership?
One of the defining characteristics of competitive fellowship applicants is their depth and breadth of experience. Ashley’s resume stands out for its range—communications internships in health IT and with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a scribe position at Texas Presbyterian Cancer Center, and a graduate internship at UT Southwestern.
Her experience at PCORI was particularly formative. “I absolutely loved that internship…it was so interesting to understand how we are centering our research around patients and not just one hospital at a time, but maybe a consortium of hospitals focusing on the same project,” Ashley shares. Here, she learned to transform complex stories into accessible blogs—a skill she leverages today in the administrative world.
Similarly, her stint at Leavitt Partners in D.C. opened her eyes to health policy: “Within that internship I mainly focused on 340B drug impact—basically, how does that program impact drug pricing overall? I was able to help with the research on a white paper…attending hearings, summarizing them, really understanding what’s going on each day in Congress.”
Ashley’s approach? Don’t specialize too soon. Instead, sample the full menu:
Communications and narrative-building
Health IT
Policy research
Clinical operations
Grant writing and engagement awards
This multi-disciplinary background gave Ashley the context to understand hospital systems in their broader societal and regulatory environments—an essential mindset for any future healthcare executive.
What sets the MD Anderson Cancer Center Administrative Fellowship apart, and why did Ashley choose this path?
Ashley is candid about her initial hesitation: “I was really indifferent about fellowships…nervous I would have to narrow it down to one area.” But her perception quickly shifted. “The fellowship’s the exact opposite. If you choose a fellowship, you get to experience so much within an organization that it’s going to feel like you’re getting to do a bunch of different internships.”
This variety is at the heart of the MD Anderson Cancer Center Administrative Fellowship. Rather than pigeonholing fellows into a single domain, the program exposes them to a broad swath of the enterprise:
Operations
Strategy
Governmental relations
Enterprise risk management
Research and policy analysis
“Within the structure of my fellowship, I’m able to do six different things in a day or focus on one project for a week and then switch to a completely different area the next,” Ashley explains. This resonates with fellows who crave intellectual diversity and the ability to see the entire chessboard, not just a single piece.
How important is curiosity in succeeding as a fellow and beyond?
Ashley is clear: “The hunger for knowledge is something that keeps me going each day…I know that if I am getting bored in one area, I can ask to get a project in another.”
This relentless curiosity is not just a personality trait—it’s a professional survival strategy. Healthcare organizations increasingly value leaders who can move fluidly between departments, learn rapidly, and ask the questions no one else is asking.
Ashley’s advice? Don’t wait for permission to learn more. Proactively seek out new projects, volunteer for interdisciplinary teams, and “ask to sit in on that additional meeting… the worst that can happen is you get a ‘no.’” This approach accelerates learning and helps you build a leadership profile that’s as resilient as it is resourceful.
What type of work do fellows actually do at MD Anderson, and how do these projects tie into long-term career goals?
As Ashley approaches the end of her 12-month generalist rotation, she’s preparing for a concentration in Enterprise Risk Management. Her project? “We’ve discussed doing a project that looks at pharmaceutical pricing and also supply chain costs—basically understanding what external factors are impacting those and building out a dashboard to mitigate this risk,” she details.
The connection to her policy background is explicit: “My Leavitt Partners experience inspired me to really like pharmaceutical pricing. I love to learn, so continuing to build upon my drug pricing knowledge and research how supply chain is being impacted is exciting.”
Key responsibilities of an MD Anderson fellow may include:
Risk assessment and mitigation projects
Data dashboard development
White paper research and publication
Cross-functional stakeholder engagement
For ambitious candidates, this hands-on exposure is a chance to work on real problems with measurable impact—setting you up for leadership roles post-fellowship.
Is publishing important for administrative fellows and early-career healthcare leaders?
Ashley is unequivocal: “If you have a heart for any type of research or writing, looking to get published is something that can be very rewarding.” She’s been published multiple times, including a neuroscience paper for her undergraduate thesis, articles with PCORI, and contributions to 340B and graduate capstone white papers.
But Ashley emphasizes accessibility over perfection: “We’re trying to make [publishing] more accessible, a little bit easier so students don’t have to go through this intense methods section.” Her perspective aligns with a broader trend: journals and fellowships are now encouraging storytelling and thought leadership, not just technical research. Publishing isn’t just for academics—it’s a key way to influence practice, policy, and public perception.
Ashley also runs a motivational blog, Stay A While, underscoring her belief that “it’s always important that if you have thoughts that could benefit others…especially within healthcare, try to get published and put your knowledge out there.”
How does Ashley manage her schedule and sustain engagement across so many interests?
Her answer is refreshingly honest: “The main thing I attribute it to is being an extrovert. As long as there’s some socialization going on, I’m willing to do it.” But personality aside, she relies on tactical planning. “I love to plan my day out, keep a calendar, keep a OneNote, and really put everything down on paper.”
For those balancing multiple commitments, Ashley recommends:
Prioritizing relationships—“Find good people in whatever you’re doing; it makes it worth doing.”
Embracing planning tools—digital or paper calendars, project management apps.
Saying yes to new experiences, provided they align with your core values.
This people-centered, organized approach allows her to serve as a Regional Chair for the National Administrative Fellowship Network, contribute to MD Anderson’s collaborative culture, and pursue her personal writing—all while excelling as a fellow.
The MD Anderson Cancer Center Administrative Fellowship stands as a model for programs that don’t just train managers, but cultivate adaptable, mission-driven leaders ready for the future of U.S. healthcare. Ashley Sekul’s journey is proof that diverse experience, a hunger for knowledge, and commitment to community aren’t just résumé-builders—they’re essential ingredients for lasting impact. As she puts it, “If you do have thoughts and things you want to put on paper that could benefit others…especially within the healthcare space, it’s extremely important to try to get published and put your knowledge out there.”
<p>[Music] hello everyone this is Cole from the American Journal of healthc care strategy I'm joined tonight with Ashley she's currently an administrative fellow at MD Anderson Ashley please introduce yourself for us yes hello everyone my name is Ashley seel I'm a current administrative fellow at MD Anderson um originally from Pensacola Florida headed over to the University of Mississippi where I received my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry then went on up to Washington DC where I pursued my mha it's a it's a great journey kind of across the states there what led you to go to Mississippi yeah so actually I have a lot of family from Mississippi and so when I started touring colleges I really wanted a small town feel I'm from originally a small town actually next to Pensacola so once I toured M Miss I was like this is just a place that feels like this town where I can get to know everyone and then also not feel overwhelmed by it so it was just a really good decision to you know start out away from home far enough to where you could meet new people but then also be in a setting that was small and welcoming and really friendly that's excellent I've heard a lot of students like that smaller but still welcoming environment I was talking to some at um University of Alabama and they said a similar thing you know people don't always think of Alabama they don't always think of you know Mississippi Mississippi or Louisiana but some of those institutions are really nice I've heard yeah and then after that you chose to go into um Georgia Washington University it's extremely well-known mha program did you go there for the location or is that because of how good their mha program is yeah so I actually mainly went for the location I really wanted to be somewhere that had a large city so I got a little bit tired of being in a small town and I thought wow how cool would that be to be in the capital of our country and then also thinking about health administration I wasn't fully focused on going into a hospital so I thought where could I get the most experience in the most opportunity and you know when you're in DC you have Consulting you have policy you have insurance and you have CMS and things like that so I just felt like it would give me the broadest scope of experience so I could really hone in on what I wanted to end up doing and you had a lot of different experiences while you were there I assume but one of the ones that I noticed in your resume was the communications intern was in Washington DC right yeah so I actually did um two Communications internships in DC one was originally with the health IT company and so that was really interesting just getting to learn more about that space definitely something that was technically challenging and a lot of new buzzwords to learn um but then my second one was with an organization called porori and so it's the patient centered outcomes Research Institute and I absolutely loved that internship it was so interesting to understand how we are um centering our research around patients and not necessarily just focusing on One hospital at a time but maybe Consortium of hospitals getting together to focus on the same research project or even how to disseminate let's say stroke information throughout Chicago and so throughout that I was able to interview some of these uh awardees who received these grants to do research and just ask them you know what's the heart Behind these projects and how have you really impacted patients and so I learned how to basically take their stories and put them into a Blog and was able to get um some of those published through porori so it was a really great experience that sounds like an amazing experience that's incredible good for you and and then so I guess what I'm wondering too is in between your undergrad and your graduate you know degree what was the kind of mental process that was going through your mind going from biochemistry to healthcare administration when did you know you wanted to go into healthcare administration how early on was that yeah so I was pretty much Premed all the way through um I actually graduated undergrad and continued to um look towards pursuing medical school and began to work as a scribe um actually for a radiation oncologist in Dallas Texas and so throughout that year as I was learning more about Healthcare in general and what it would mean to be a physician I started to see that maybe this wasn't the path for me that perhaps this wasn't the place I needed to be I still realized I needed to be in healthcare it was definitely something something that's always been at the core of my mission you know I really love to obviously help people but then also to work in a setting where um you're surrounded by people who are driven by a mission of helping those who are sick and so with that I just really started to understand that maybe being a physician wasn't for me and so I decided to apply to grad school and look towards the administrative side of things and plus when I was an undergrad I actually was a biochim major but a journalism minor um and so I always just had this part of me that liked not just science like there was something more there was it going to be Communications was it going to be you know maybe Finance or just something outside of Science and I felt so focused in on science if I chose to be a physician and so I moved into Health admin to really expand on some of my interests and be able to couple the two so that was pretty much the transition but yes it definitely took some understanding of working in the field of healthcare and being a scribe and being in that clinical setting to really understand that admin ation was the path for me I noce you were a scribe it says for about 10 months so right up until you started but how how long did it take during that scribing program you know how how many months in for me I was a medical assistant for six months when I realized I'm not going to do this these doctors are more incredible than I had even thought but I'm not that incredible so I'm not gonna I'm not going to do this you know I was I was working in Neuroscience or neurology so I was meeting MD MD PhD it was an incred environment to be in but it just you know wasn't exactly the way that I wanted to go but it was about that six Monon period when I realized I want to be in healthcare but something else how long did it take you so it was actually only about three months of working as a scribe and I think a lot of that had to do with I was working for a physician who was a female and so just hearing some more of like the work life balance side of things I started to worry what will this look like for me am I someone who necessarily wants to dedicate my 20s to going to med school and you know Focus my family around being a physician whereas I could have choose to be in healthcare and to really expand my knowledge and interests and still be able to have more of a work life balance excellent that's so nice that you were able to to meet with someone who was a female as well I know it's been challenging for students who whether it's a cultural you know gender racial boundary they can't find someone who comes from the same backgr or has the same thinking process so it's nice to hear you know how important that is for for our students so then after you know you go to DC and then you go back to Texas at one point for a graduate administrative internship what is the the connection you have to Texas because that's come up a few times so what is you know what do you like about Texas right that's so interesting because I originally loved Dallas because I have an aunt there and so we would go visit her during college and I just I thought it was so cool you know like I said I was in a small town in college and so Dallas was super appealing um and so then when I started applying for internships or actually I guess when I applied to be a scribe I received a job offer in Dallas and I was said you know immediately yes I need to go live there and then actually when I applied for internships I wasn't necessarily geared towards ending up in Texas again it was one of those moments where it just worked out and so I got to head back to Dallas was able to actually stay with my aunt which was super great and work at UT Southwestern there and it was just something that I thought okay this has been my Texas journey I likely won't be back and then began applying to fellowships and sure enough received an offer in Houston and couldn't pass it up so I just Texas I say Texas pulls me back it's not me Texas it really does it's very it keeps taking me back so I'm not mad about it it's great down here I mean those are some great institutions youve worked for too in Texas um what where did you work uh okay I see it's on Presbyterian Cancer Center was the Scribe nice so you've worked for the great institutions of Texas when you've been there and so then you come back to DC and and this is I guess kind of that fellowship with levit Partners or internship was it was a fellowship and then this is that like quintessential Washington DC Fellowship where you're working on policy uh I want to hear more about that because that's an area that really interests me yes no it was super fascinating I honestly have to say I didn't know anything about the health policy space besides what I had learned in class and so I was just thrown into it and it was so cool because they have so many you know just in-depth projects and so you learn so much more than you're going to learn in class obviously in class you're going to learn about CMS or Medicare Medicaid things like that um whereas working for a health policy firm you're going to learn about what clients are looking out what policies changing and So within that internship I mainly focused on 340b uh drug uh impact so basically how does that program Impact Drug pricing overall was able to help with the research on a white paper and then some of the other smaller projects or more day-to-day work was focused on attending hearings and summarizing them and just really understanding what's going on each day in Congress and then keeping up with just everything going on day-to-day in you know the Senate side or the house side of things and um within each of the Committees so you just get really invested in what's going on on and it's really cool because it was 10 minutes from my house so I'm like this is such a unique opportunity and one that really made me love policy and I'm just really interested in the governmental relations space still and love to keep up with that and so that's something that I guess we all talk about a little bit on on how you're thinking of doing that because that's an area that actually interests me a lot and I'd also like to see maybe let in our conversation how you're you know going to be melting that into your career because I'm very interested in policy as well so your two internships in that you know Fellowship in and then you do another internship in engagement Awards what led you to do that because I mean this is a good amount of experience you're Gathering through all of this yes so the engagement Awards one was a really great opportunity just to understand more of how you know Healthcare is impacted on a large scale so that's kind of how I felt about the policy internship as well I felt like at this point I knew I was going to work for a hospital and I knew I'd be focusing on one area one population whereas I wanted to get one more experience where I could really see what's happening you know Nationwide how is how is Healthcare being impacted on a large scale and So within that engagement Awards internship I was really able to um meet with different the grant awardees understand how they received their funding what was the heart behind that funding see some of the materials they created to engage their populations and a lot of it was just dissemination e efforts so um I worked with one group that did mental health research for uh graduate students actually which was really interesting and another group that did mental health research with elderly adults and so just really understanding how is this changing throughout our nation not necessarily being led by a hospital but being L led by healthc Care organizations and so getting to interview and you know speak to people who have a heart for helping people but not necessarily in that hospital setting was super interesting it sounds like it's very valuable to what you do now to I one of the questions I ask a lot of fellows especially those who have more extensive experience kind of like yourself why choose to do the fellowship what made you want to do that yeah so I was really indifferent about fellowships whenever the applications came out just because having seen different fields within Healthcare I was nervous I would have to narrow it down to one but then I realized the fellowship's the exact opposite of that if you choose to do a fellowship you're going to get to experience so much within an organization that it's going to feel like you're getting to do a bunch of different internships you're seeing so many different areas you're not just committing yourself to operations or to strategy or to governmental relations but within the structure of my fellowship I'm able to do six different things in a day or mainly focus on one project during one week and then focus on one in a completely different area and I feel like that's the way my brain works best and so it was almost a no brainer to choose a fellowship because I could continue to be in this space where I was learning so much about so many different things at once it sounds uh like that was definitely what you what you wanted to do from what I know of a lot of fellowships as well with you just get exposed to so many different things and and it kind of seems like that's a been a pattern for you as you like getting this knowledge in different areas you you I think that's how how important I guess do you think that hunger for that knowledge has been to the success of your career yeah I feel like the hunger for knowledge is something that keeps me going each day because I know that if I am getting bored in one area I can ask to get a project in another area or I can ask to take on more to whereas if I didn't really have this thirst to learn more then I'm not sure I would be as adamant about going outside of the box of my current projects and I feel like with each project I want to you know do something different or I'm going to ask to sit on that additional meeting and you know the word that can happen is you get a know but it definitely keeps things more interesting and it allows me to be exposed to more and I hopefully think that it will um help me to build my career out more and then also to continue to just build myself as a leader definitely I think you're on a great path to being a leader already from what I've seen so you know you you have this hunger for knowled you like you know all these learning all these new things and then you mentioned that your 12 months are going to be up in in about three four months or so and then you're going to start this um what did you call it earlier the uh concentration concentration what and and you said you were choosing risk so yes I will likely choose the Enterprise risk management department and So within that um we've discussed doing a project that looks at pharmaceutical pricing and then also supply chain costs and so basically understanding what external factors are impacting those and then building out a dashboard to understand how we can mitigate this risk really um keep an eye on the risk and then also just work with our different stakeholders to make sure that we are putting all of their knowledge into one place and keeping um our our heads up on what's going on in the market of uh pharmaceutical and supply chain costs and that makes sense because that ties into your experience at levit partners then yes so actually my levit partners experience pretty much inspired me to really like pharmaceutical pricing because I think another thing that I really enjoy Beyond policy is just research I love to I mean I guess that makes sense I love to learn so continuing to be able to build upon my drug pricing knowledge and to research how supply chain is being impacted um because I don't know anything about supply chain at all I will admit I feel like it's just something that excites me because I'm going to get to learn more I'm going to get to spend my days researching and then just compile all of this into a risk dashboard and then also hopefully build out a white paper on what we can really be looking at in each of these markets good for you and and then that white paper uh if it's public if you do end up you know publishing it turning it into a research paper what how many papers will that have been because I think you've published a few different things right quite a few different things yes so I have been published for a neuroscience paper that I actually did an undergrad for my honors college thesis and then I had um an article come out with porori and then also was on the research portion of the 340b paper so oh and then we did a white paper in at the end of graduate school for a Capstone um so I helped partner for that and that was for Camy and accrediting um board for mha programs I'm familiar with them yeah so what's your take on publishing I know some mha students they don't like it it makes them nervous it makes them uncomfortable I think comparing it to um like the New England Journal of Medicine you know these really astute Publications that are you know really excellent but what's your take on it for the healthcare administration space that's what we're trying to is we're trying to make it more accessible make it a little bit little bit easier for them to write so they don't have to go through this like intense method section but what's your you know have you found it rewarding would you encourage others to do it yeah absolutely I think if you have a heart for any type of research or writing I think looking to get published is something that can be very rewarding um I also think it's really great to have your words out there Beyond working in health administration I'm also a writer just on the side and I actually have my own blog to which I publish and probably not many people read but with that I think it's always important that if you do have thoughts and things you want to put on paper um that could really benefit others or influence people especially within the healthcare space I think it's extremely important to go ahead and try to get published and to put your knowledge out into a space that is going to be accepting and it's going to be really rewarding if you're able to get to that what's the uh what's the name of your blog we'd love to plug it here I get more people to go read it well it's actually funny so it's called stay a while so I basically based it on the concept of we want things to be infinite and we want them to last forever and so whenever you're reading my blog I say you should stay a while because that's just our hopes in life is that people stay a while or that things will last forever all of the good things and so I really just use it to write motivational things and things that I learn along the way in life and um just really tie it back into little stories that happen and so definitely not healthcare related but just a passion of mine to write on the side definitely I think everyone should check that out I know you know we're Healthcare focused but really what we want people to do is be successful in creating the impact that they want and um I actually already pulled it I found it real quick right here and so it does seem very very motivational so I think everyone should definitely go check that out we'll link it in the uh in the LinkedIn post for this um and then so you're also very in you have a lot of different things that you do you're very involved I know with the national Administrative Fellowship Network you are a regional chair uh so how have you managed if you could provide us a tip how if you don't have any that's fine but how have you managed all these different interests and all you know this big busy schedule are there any tips you have for individuals like myself who sometimes struggle with that well the main thing I attribute it to is being an extrovert I feel like as long as there's some socialization going on in an aspect of my life I'm willing to do it and so that's one thing but then also as far as time management goes I'm a huge planner I love to plan my day out keep a calendar keep a one note and really put everything down on paper but yeah I really just think that as long as you can find good people in whatever you're doing it makes it way worth doing so you know with NN it's really great because everyone we're working with is super invested in helping fellows and in collaborating and then also at MD Anderson the culture is amazing it's like what can I do who else can I be around who else can I not work with and so I really attribute all of my things that I love in life to really getting to connect with people and so as long as there's that people portion I'm willing to go out try a new hobby or join another club or to work with another group in health administration that is a beautiful uh just a spirit that you have towards that I think that's an excellent spot to leave off on as well I think we'll have to have you back on another time to kind of expand probably after you're done with your fellowship to talk about your new role that I'm sure you're going to be getting probably a very exciting role after your fellowship so uh we'll have to have you on again but I could not be more thankful for you spending this 20 minutes with us I know you probably went through a lot of preparation so I really do appreciate it and I couldn't be more thankful well thank you so much for having me this has been honestly so great and I love getting to talk about um you know Health Administration and just getting to learn more about what's going on in healthcare and so it's really awesome that you're getting to do these interviews and get to Showcase each of the different fellows around the country and so I'm excited to see some of their videos as well yeah we're working with the uh NN to try to bring more of people from there on and and I've Lov talking to everyone I haven't done a fellowship myself I'm living vicariously through everyone because all these fellows have been amazing and you're you're an excellent example of that so thank you for sharing your knowledge with everyone awesome well thank you so much this has been great but</p>
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