Key Takeaways
- Administrators with clinical backgrounds offer unique value by bridging the gap between patient care realities and high-level strategy.
Healthcare administrative fellowships offer aspiring leaders a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience and develop critical skills in the complex world of hospital administration. These programs provide a bridge between academic knowledge and practical application, allowing fellows to learn from seasoned executives and contribute to meaningful projects within healthcare systems. The Deland Fellowship in Healthcare and Society at Brigham and Women's Hospital is an exemplary administrative fellowship that offers a comprehensive experience in healthcare administration.
In this review of the Deland Fellowship experience, we'll explore the journey of Judah Soray, BPharm, MHA, a former pharmacist who transitioned into a healthcare administration career. His experience highlights the value of clinical backgrounds in administrative roles and the impact of well-structured healthcare fellowships on professional development and career growth.
Judah's path to healthcare administration is anything but typical. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Judah began his career as a licensed pharmacist. This clinical background provided him with valuable insights into patient care and healthcare operations from the ground up.
Recognizing the potential to make a broader impact on patient care, Judah decided to pivot his career towards hospital administration. He explains, "I wanted to use that experience being on the clinical side, bringing the experience of patient care face-to-face interactions with patients, and being able to expand that passion that I have for improving patients' lives, but across a broader section of patients in the healthcare industry."
This transition led Judah to pursue a Master's in Healthcare Administration at the University of Central Florida, setting the stage for his future as an administrative fellow and a career in healthcare leadership.
Before embarking on his fellowship journey, Judah secured a summer internship at the Cleveland Clinic, focusing on international operations. This experience proved instrumental in shaping his healthcare administration career path and preparing him for the challenges of hospital administration.
During his internship, Judah worked on several key projects:
Analyzing two years of USCAHPS (Universal Survey of Patient Experience) data
Identifying trends and areas for improvement in patient experience
Collaborating with the director of patient experience
The internship not only provided Judah with practical experience but also exposed him to the world of healthcare administration fellowships. He took the opportunity to network with Cleveland Clinic fellows, gaining insights into the benefits and challenges of fellowship programs.
Judah's internship experience and networking led him to apply for the Deland Fellowship in Healthcare and Society at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a prestigious academic medical center. This one-year health administration fellowship offers a unique, less structured approach, allowing fellows to shape their experience based on their interests and the organization's needs.
The Deland Fellowship is primarily project-based but offers the flexibility to rotate through different clinical departments. Fellows have the freedom to choose their strategic projects, their scope, and the departments they wish to work with. This autonomy allows fellows to tailor their experience to their career goals and interests, providing valuable operational experience in healthcare operations management.
One of the strengths of the Deland Fellowship is the opportunity to work alongside other administrative fellows. Judah emphasizes the importance of this peer support, stating, "Having a cohort, at least a plus one for your fellowship, is fantastic as just like moral, emotional, physical support during the fellowship time."
Throughout his fellowship year, Judah worked on several significant projects that contributed to healthcare innovation and quality improvement:
Vendor Diversity Initiative: Collaborating with his co-fellow, Judah worked on increasing vendor diversity within the hospital, focusing on sourcing local suppliers for the gift shop.
340B Expansion Program: Leveraging his pharmacy background, Judah developed a business case for expanding the 340B program, which aimed to improve patient experience and generate savings for the organization.
These projects not only contributed to the hospital's operations but also allowed Judah to apply his unique skill set and gain valuable experience in healthcare administration and healthcare finance.
A key component of the Deland Fellowship is the mentorship program. Fellows are paired with senior leaders who provide guidance, support, and insights into healthcare leadership.
Judah had the opportunity to work with two exceptional mentors during his fellowship:
Dr. Sunny Eappen, the Chief Medical Officer, known for his compassionate leadership style
Dr. Charles Morris, who took over as Chief Medical Officer midway through Judah's fellowship
These mentorship relationships proved invaluable, offering Judah the chance to discuss ideas, navigate decision-making processes, and gain a deeper understanding of executive leadership in healthcare systems.
Relocating to Boston for the fellowship presented both challenges and opportunities for Judah. Despite never having visited the city before, he found Boston to be an ideal location for healthcare professionals.
Judah describes Boston as a city with "old world charm" that's also very walkable and filled with distinct neighborhoods. The influx of students, residents, and fellows each academic year creates a vibrant community of like-minded professionals, fostering networking opportunities and shared experiences in healthcare administration.
After completing his fellowship, Judah carefully considered his next career move. He ultimately landed a role as a Systems Integration Project Manager at Beth Israel Lahey Health, a competitor health system to Mass General Brigham.
In his current position, Judah applies the skills and knowledge gained during his fellowship to system-level integration projects. He notes that much of his work mirrors the types of projects he tackled as a fellow, allowing him to leverage his unique skill set in a new organizational context and continue his professional development in healthcare technology and healthcare analytics.
Reflecting on his Deland Fellowship experience, Judah offers valuable advice for those considering or preparing for a healthcare administrative fellowship:
Focus on making an impact rather than worrying about perceptions
Build confidence in your abilities and the value you bring to the organization
Embrace challenges and learning opportunities
Recognize the value of your unique perspective and experiences
Judah emphasizes the importance of overcoming imposter syndrome, reminding future fellows that "even these leaders, people who are CEOs, C-suite leaders in the hospital, at the end of the day, they're all human as well. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has good and bad days."
By focusing on personal growth, embracing challenges, and leveraging their unique backgrounds, fellowship candidates can make the most of their experience and set themselves up for success in healthcare administration.
The Deland Fellowship is a one-year hospital administrative fellowship program at Brigham and Women's Hospital. It offers a flexible, project-based experience that allows fellows to shape their learning journey based on their interests and the organization's needs.
The program usually accepts two fellows per year, although there have been years with three or four fellows. Having at least one co-fellow provides valuable peer support throughout the fellowship experience.
Fellows work on a variety of strategic projects based on their interests and the hospital's needs. These can range from diversity initiatives and business development to process improvement and healthcare strategy.
While clinical experience is not always required, it can be beneficial. Judah's background as a pharmacist provided him with valuable insights that he applied to his administrative role, demonstrating the value of clinical immersion in healthcare administration.
Fellows are paired with senior leaders who serve as mentors throughout the fellowship year. These relationships provide guidance, support, and insights into healthcare leadership and healthcare policy.
Post-fellowship opportunities vary, but many fellows go on to leadership roles in healthcare organizations. The skills and experiences gained during the fellowship are valuable for a wide range of positions in healthcare administration, healthcare innovation, and healthcare operations management.
In conclusion, the Deland Fellowship experience offers a comprehensive introduction to healthcare administration careers, providing fellows with the opportunity to work on impactful projects, learn from senior leaders, and develop the skills necessary to succeed in the complex world of healthcare systems. For those looking to jumpstart their career in healthcare administration, programs like the Deland Fellowship offer an invaluable steppingstone to future success.
<p>hi everyone it's Ru shangi sha with a fellowship review through the American Journal of healthcare strategy today I am so excited to be joined by not only a peer but a good friend Judah Sur hi Judah thanks thanks for joining us today hi bangi it's great to be here and and reconnect with you [Music] yeah absolutely and I'm so so excited for you to highlight your journey and talk about your fellowship experience I know that's exactly how we connected um but let's start by talking about you tell our listeners a little bit about you your educational background where you did your fellowship um and anything else you'd want to share yeah thank you um I'm I'm excited to to uh join you on this podcast and and speak to the the listeners of this podcast so so I'm Judith Sur I am originally from Trinidad and Tobago grew up in the Caribbean I went to pharmacy school there I actually uh practiced as a pharmacist uh before migrating to the US when I moved to the US I decided to to switch gears and and pursue a a career in healthcare administration I went back to school uh at the University of Central Florida to pursue my masters in healthcare administration which uh afforded me a lot of great opportunities to to intern at the Cleveland Clinic which sort of opened my eyes to to a career in healthcare administration and and international operations and that that's kind of what drove me to apply to administrative fellowships and and so luckily uh thankfully I've um spent time uh in the past year and a half or so uh at the briam and wom's Hospital uh completing theand Fellowship in healthcare and Society um and that's taken me or or brought me to where I currently am today in my in my role with with Beth isra he h that's incredible um and you know I'm so excited to delve into the um Fellowship experience as well as your internship experience but one thing you said really stood out to me and it was that you were actually a licensed pharmacist you went to pharmacy school um and a lot of healthc care administrators they either pick a different major or have a different career prior to um shifting into healthcare administration so tell us a little bit more about that switch you know um you practiced as a pharmacist and so what kind of LED you to finally make that decision and say I'm going to go towards healthcare administration yeah that's you know I get this question all the time and I think it's it's really interesting as as I learned more about the healthcare administration field in the US I I kind of saw myself as an outlier because having a clinical background is is as you mentioned something that that not many administrators do have I thought in my case I wanted to use that to to to use that experience being on the clinical side uh bringing the experience of you know of patient care face Toof face interactions with patients and and being able to expand that passion that I have for for improving patients lives but in a in a broad a across a broader uh like section of of patients in in the in the healthcare industry and I've I've I've had great opportunities to be able to do that yeah absolutely it sounds like it uh and I'm sure your clinical background 100% helped with um you know utilizing some of those transferable skills into the administrative World um and you know I think it's so incredible that you had the opportunity to work at such a phenomenal organization the Cleveland Clinic so why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about the internship experience you know um tell us a little bit about the projects that you did and you know maybe what were your favorite parts of that internship yeah so so I was a summer intern at the Cleveland Clinic and and specifically I was embedded in international operations and I I worked with the the the director of uh patient experience um who was a phenomenal mentor and and and a a preceptor during that internship I think she allowed me the opportunity to kind of explore International operations and to explore Cleveland Clinic uh to the best of to to my ability and you know she allowed me the room to to do that um some of the projects I worked on during that internship were actually they were primarily impatient experience so we worked on um on analyzing two years of you skip data so that's if you guys are know of it or have heard of it but the um the international patient program uh kind of survey uh format that is uh led by nchl and so I analyzed two years of feedback looking at Trends in that data and kind of helping to guide the path forward for her and for her team uh in terms of what they would take on as project some areas of of of strength and areas of opportunity that they can can use to help guide their their project and process Improvement for for the years which I I'm so thankful that I stay in touch with her she's she's been able to to let me know that those projects have been going really well so um yeah du has been fantastic to to help uh Mentor me into to where I am today absolutely it sounds like and mentorship will definitely be um a part of this episode that we cover a little bit later um but you know from there you went on to pursue an administrative Fellowship um you know could you tell us a little bit in more in detail you know why Fellowship there's a lot of paths you could have taken after completing your graduate program your internship so tell us what Drew you specifically to um fellowships and then specifically your fellowship at um Brigham yeah so I when when I kind of was wrapping up my my mha program and I internet clevand CL Clinic I think I I took the opportunity there to network with a lot of the Cleveland Clinic fellows and a lot of them who have just had just finished grad school or were just wrapping up their first year or their their one-year fellowship and I really wanted to get a better sense of what fellowships brought to their experience and you know how how those fellows were able to maximize the experience and and you know look at their backgrounds their education and their their onhand experience to to make the most of of that unity and kind of propel their career and that's kind of what drove me to apply to fellowships generally and I think in my case I was looking for fellowships that maybe some some of them that required more experience because I I brought experience where you know a lot of times students tend to they may just have like internship experience or maybe just a couple years of experience but I was looking for opportunities in in fellowships where they looked they specifically wanted fellows who had years of experience because the the fellowship was was less structured and you had the opportunity to kind of shape the experience to be what you wanted it to be and so that's kind of what drew me to to the land fellowship at briam Women's Hospital um and thankfully I was selected and and had that amazing opportunity there yeah absolutely no it definitely even in connecting with you over um the last couple years it seems like it was a very rewarding opportunity for you um for our listeners tell us a little bit more about the logistics of the Brigham um Fellowship you know is there one fellow is there two is it Project based rotation based is it one year twoe all those fine details yeah yeah yeah definitely yeah so yeah so the danan fellowship is a one-year um less structured Fellowship it is primarily Project based but you have the opportunity to rotate uh through different areas of the organization through different areas of the operations or whichever you decide you want to to kind of learn more and immerse yourself into uh it's a as I mentioned a really unstructured Fellowship so you honestly get to shape the experience to be what you want it to be you get to pick the number of projects the scope scale types of projects that you want to work on the areas that you get to work on and and in that Fellowship what they try to do is match fellows who have interest areas and specific like needs of the organization to to that Fellowship year that Fellowship cycle and yeah it's I I could go into more detail but I'm sure we'll get there yeah um and did you have a co- fellow do they always have one to there have been years where they've had four uh three but typically these in the past couple years it's been it's been two okay okay you did have you did have a companion you had and you know tell me more about that do you if you and your fellow have an interest area that aligns is there opportunity to work on projects together or do you kind of Do Your Own Thing yeah that's that's I'm so glad you brought that point up so during my fellowship Year my co- fellow Jenny was the you know her for shank uh she oh my God she was my rock during that Fellowship I I would not have survived it without her I think I think having a cohort uh fellowship at least a plus one for your fellowship is fantastic as just like moral emotional physical support during during the fellowship time because it is is it is quite stressful in that type of that type of you have to be on your aame for the entire all day every day for the entire year or however long it is I think to answer your question in terms of the interest areas her and I had had very different interest areas to start off with although uh in going into the fellowship I was more intentional in wanting us to to find one area that we could get to work on as fellow um and so her and I worked really well together on a on a Dei project and so we worked on in increasing the the vendor diversity within the hospital and specifically we we tried to find we tried to scope the project to be something that is that we were able to accomplish in the year so ultimately it turned into it kind of morphed into this vendor diversity project for our gift shop and so we worked with finding local suppliers and local uh providers in the community that we can acquire and procure goods and products from to sell in our gift shop which kind of was a really great starting point because like this fleece that I'm wearing was made by a local supplier and this is my Bram this is my Bram flee you know and it's like I love wearing this is my favorite thing to wear because it brings back so many great memories of of me of of of Jenny and I being able to work on a project like that and be able to accomplish something that was worthwhile for the organization helps support the community but it was also overall like it helped us grow together and be able to work together during our fellowship yeah absolutely and I first of all Jenny is great um but to your point about having a co- fellow or a cohort of fellows you know fellows are also the ones doing recruitment so it's so incredibly helpful to have another or a couple of other people working with you to recruit the next cohort of fellows so I completely you know diving deeper into your experience as fellow what project during your fellowship would you say was the most rewarding um one that you like learned the most from oh that's a great that's a great oh my gosh so I worked on about seven or eight different projects across my my fellowship year which was a lot for for a typical fellow I think the one that stood out the most for me was probably the the de and one the vendor diversity just because of the impact we made and and and the the the the feeling of accomplishment that we had at the end of it but in addition to that there was another project I worked on that was was like very meaningful for me reflecting back on the fellowship Year and that was uh being able to work on a 340b expansion program uh and it was it was sort of a business case that I I helped to create and the reason it was it was impactful it's because sobre M hospital if some of you may know is is part of the Mass General Brigham system and so they're integrating Mass General Hospital um it's still in like the middle age stages of that integration work like a lot of the service lines are now slowly being integrated at the system level though the the the the leadership are are well integrated and and so Pharmacy was one of those one of those service lines or one of those areas that were in the in the earlier phases of being integrated however they hadn't maximized the opportunities that they had and so I was able to come in you know using my experience as a pharmacist and and having that knowledge um being able to be sort of a subject matter expert in that area and kind of work with the pharmacy leaders the the business analysts and then our Pharmacy executive leadership at the system level to kind of pull together this business plan and say hey like if we actually you know retain some of these prescriptions it works out well for our patients because they're able to from a patient experience point of view they could you know go to the clinic in the hospital seamlessly pick up their prescriptions or have it mailed to their home really convenient and then on top of that from a financial point of view it it just makes sense for the organization to retain those prescriptions and and and and you know ACR some savings for the organization if we were able to do that um I'm sure with your Pharmacy background you were like a rock star for that and all your other projects um you know one of the things you talk about earlier um you know as we were chatting was about mentorship so can you please share with our listeners what mentorship is like at Brigham and especially in the fellowship yeah so in the dant Fellowship you are paired up with an executive leader to be your Mentor um and so during my fellowship year it was actually the chief medical officer Sunny epen who was fantastic he was well known across the entire organization as somebody who was a compassionate leader somebody who who in in leadership meetings people would look to for for answers not just because he was a leader but because he was a voice of reason and someone who who really had had thoughtful questions and thoughtful responses to to the matter that was being discussed and so I was really fortunate to have sunny as my mentor unfortunately Sunny was so great that he got a CEO position and left halfway through my fellowship so but yeah so I I only had a mentor for the first half of my um of my fellowship and then I transitioned on to another great mentor so I was lucky enough to have two great mentors the the second Mentor I had was the was the this chief medical officer who who filled his role uh Chuck moris who was fantastic as well he was another awesome leader and I think in terms of mentorship like through the fellowship in particular the the land Fellowship having the mentor relationship and being able to to build that organically is was was just amazing because you're you're able to bounce ideas and bonds concerns you know through this process it's quite a stressful process or it can be a stressful process um and I think it's really good to have that kind of support from a leader who who sits in those rooms and sits in those meetings and you can kind of talk through the ideas and talk through these decision- making processes and understand you know what what should I be think thinking or or am I looking at things the right way or you know is there a different approach I should take to this to to if I'm you know posing a question in this type of meeting so I think those things are really valuable yeah well absolutely and mentorship is something that I value so much not only receiving it from you know senior leaders in my life but also giving it back to the new generation so I think I love to highlight the piece of mentorship for Fellowship so you know future potential fellows can know what they can find at an organization um and you know uh living so tell us a little bit this is more of like a fun laid-back question but Boston tell us a little bit about kind of your life outside of the fellowship you know maybe what was your favorite part about in Boston what should people know oh my gosh so I moved to Boston I well first of all let me tell you I rented my apartment to move to my fellowship without ever having step foot in Boston so I had no no idea I'd never been to Boston before I was just like you know what this is a great organization this is a fantastic Fellowship I'm gonna figure out so let me just rent somewhere and figure out you know I'm that kind of person but Boston was amazing to live in honestly it's it's it's it's got like the old world charm but it's an American city it's a big city but it's also not it's very walkable you know it's got great transportation D I think there's like multiple small neighborhoods next to each other and everywhere is really like quaint a lot of the buildings are super old so I think it's it's it's a great City to to be in especially so because a lot of students and a lot of fellows and residents move to Boston every Academic Year and so you're not going to be the only student or the only resident or fellow who's moving to Boston you'll find yourself surrounded with a lot of other people who are in the same situation as you and I think I thankfully had the opportunity to like connect and network with those fellows and you know make the most of that experience and and and stay in touch with them and kind of grow together as as a as a cohort of fellows yeah absolutely what an incredible experience and you know I think I've read also that bostonmassachusetts in general is one of the most highly educated States also um in the US and totally makes sense with the incredible colleges and universities there so I love that you had that experience and so tell us a little bit about postfellowship life you know um have you stayed in Boston what is your post you know what role are you in now and what's life like yeah so so post Fellowship I I really took some time to kind of figure out what types of roles or type of role I wanted to to step into postfellowship and so it took me a while to kind of figure out where I wanted to be and ultimately I landed on on on internal Consulting so I work as a systems integration project manager for Beth isra Ley Health which is the competitor Health System to Mass General bgam in Boston it's literally across the street my hospital is like you could look at the other Hospital across the street um and I think the reason I landed here is because I the interviews that I had for this role I felt such a a strong connection with the team and I felt like this this health system Beth is health is is undergoing a lot of transformation at this point in their system career and Z system life um and I felt like it was just a great fit I think a lot of the work that I do now is very similar to the types of projects I worked on as a fellow it's it's system level integration Project work um and I get to bring my skill set to this team and and utilize that skill set to help you know think of creative ideas to implement some of the work that we're doing and so I really enjoy I really enjoy that aspect of of this job yeah yeah how incredible and again so appreciative of you um being on this episode and I'm happy you got to still stay in the Boston healthc care space and kind of continue utilizing your uh skills that you not only Built over your career as a pharmacist but you know during the fellowship and so you know uh the question that I love to end on um with all my guests is if you were to give it this you know Fellowship advice to a prospective candidate or if you yourself were to redo the process you know what advice would you want people to really follow um when going through this process and attaining a fellowship yeah that's that's such a great question I think if I were to redo this Fellowship process and and relive my life as a fellow as a grad student getting into Fellowship I would spend less time worrying about what people thought okay and spend more time thinking about how I can make an impact in the work that I'm doing because I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm confident in what I do but I personally question myself a lot of times and and it took me quite a while into the fellowship into my career to realize that you know what just have confidence in what you're doing because you're good at it and and when people start recognizing that then it kind of like it's kind of you know it's a a feedback mechanism um so yeah if I had to redo that that's that's what I would I would work on honestly such great advice yeah no great advice and I think like from what adding my two cents in um as a fellow you're surrounded by some of the brightest leaders Physicians nursing clinical staff in general it can be hard sometimes to speak up and have that confidence so I would just say you know um absolutely be ident and speak up but give yourself Grace too it can be intimidating occupying some of those Fellowship spaces absolutely I think I think imposter syndrome is such a real thing I know you and I have discussed that in the past yes I think at the end of the day what I've come to learn is that even these leaders people who are CEOs Co leaders in the hospital at the end of the day they're all human as well everybody makes mistakes everybody has good bad days everybody you know goes blank ever so often so like don't be don't be hard on yourself because you're doing the best that you can and you you made it this far if you're a fellow or you're in an interview for a fellowship like you made it this far because you are good and you deserve to be there in that space yeah and on that note what a great way to end this episode Judah thank you so much for all your advice and insight and also highlighting a unique Journey from Pharmacy into fellowship and now as a health administrator I really enjoyed speaking with you today and I know our listeners will benefit a lot from learning about the Brigham Fellowship so thank you for joining me yeah for Shang it's been great to join you um I hope this has been helpful to to our listeners and um yeah I'm I'm happy to to uh if anyone wants to reach out and you know connect with me and and hear more about or like bounce ideas off me I'm happy to or hear more about the fellowship that's absolutely incredible thank you so much thank you</p>
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