<p>hello everyone this is Cole from the American Journal of healthcare strategy and I'm joined this evening with Lizzie an administrative fellow at UC San Diego Lizzie please introduce yourself to everyone Hi everyone thank you so much for joining uh my name is Lizzie case and I'm a current administrative fellow at UCC naal Health thanks for having me [Music] we're so happy to have you this evening so we'll we'll go back and start at the very beginning you could say you got a Bachelor's in law and public policy can you explain what your interest in that was and then what your interest in getting the mha mha was excuse me yeah absolutely great question first for my bachelor's in law and public policy I know I always wanted to do something I'm involved with the community and helping others and so I thought that through law and public policy that would be a really great Avenue to have a better understanding of you know not all government at the local level or state level but also National level as well ironically enough I wanted to go to law school that was my initial intent when choosing that degree but as I started to consider you know Master's programs and what you know life would look like post uh College the Masters in healthcare administration really reached out to me and I feel like aligned with more of what I was looking for in my career post College makes a lot of sense law school is tough uh and you know especially if you want to be in health law I know that it's good to actually have a kind of a practical experience as a Healthcare Executive what Drew you to being in healthc care or did you always were always interested in health law or is this kind of a completely new area for you yeah no I think healthcare was always part of my life my mother is registered nurse and actually just pursued her own masters in health healthare Administration and so she worked in the ICU and the emergency department for several years of her career and so I always remember growing up listening to stories about her coming home from work and kinding the way that not only impacted her but our family as well being part of the community as well as she worked at a surgery center as well as so kind of getting to see both the inpatient and outpatient side from her perspective and I think like a lot of families you know always have a family member something that really strikes you that really moved you to be part of healthcare my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and sadly past and so kind of seeing her treatment as well throughout the Healthcare System kind of combined my mother's experience and hers really drew me to this career and I'm glad that I'm here it's great that you're able to find a career that Mees meshes your interest and that also you have that inspiration from your personal experiences I noticed one thing that really sticks out about your resume is you've just had so many experiences and really incredible ones with amazing organizations uh you know going all the way back to during undergrad uh can I ask what were any that stick out in particular for you yeah absolutely I think each experience is in such a different realm so for instance in undergrad you know volunteering Meals on Wheels I think was a great way to connect with the community and really connect to my personal mission and Healthcare you know driven to really provide for the community at that level as well as holistically within Health but you know I think that kind of started my Peak Interest in regards to also my personal um journey within Healthcare with my family um I think also in my graduate program really formulated my and solidified my want to be part of this industry first you know being a researcher at M health fair viiew really gave a unique perspective I was a student researcher in the Pediatric Echo Lab at M health fair viiew and so I think it was really interesting to see children's medicine that's something I hadn't done before but kind of the unique attributes that were a part of that particular area Healthcare I think also working for Philip's Neighborhood clinic in Minneapolis which is a student run clinic or organ organization within Minneapolis and we provide free health care to all those underserved within the community regardless of insurance status and so it's really amazing to see that we're be able to provide care to those who really needed most within the community again really aligning to my why health care but I think things that really formulated me from an administrative perspective was definitely my experience at Mayo Clinic so working there I think you know in Rochester minnona one of the both best Health Systems excuse me in the country such a phenomenal experience getting the unique opportunity to work with their operational leadership within the Ed and the just hosital leadership as well and I think also my experience at UC Irvine Medical Center I think really pivoted my love for the UC system and really helped formulate myself as a young careerist really helped me connect uh to my fellowship that I'm in today it's just an amazing breath of experiences you know I did Meals on Wheels myself my granddad he used Meals on Wheels and so you know I was originally Med so I was looking for kind like experiences that I could connect with yeah and I was like oh my granddad did this so I need to I need to you know provide what my granddad benefited from and so I love that experience and you did that for a long time as well right it looked like on the LinkedIn like six years uh or so you were doing that yeah no absolutely I think that's it's such a powerful way to not only give to the community but also connect to the community as well and I just I love that personal story um and connection that you have with that such a phenomenal organization and just really again I think inspired my want to help the community connect with the community I wouldn't had any other way just absolutely love that experience and I'm also doing it with my family members as well um with something special that we did and still uh you know wish I could go back and do and maybe find something here in California like similar to such an organization that's really nice that's a great family experience uh so I want to ask you know for me I I've struggled with this and some other students mention this to me as well they really struggle with this since you've had so so many great opportunities how do you get these is there anything at that stage that you did was it networking was it you know did you formulate your resume in a certain way how did you get so many internships and opportunities yeah first I think University of Minnesota really helped pivot some of those opportunities and connections and I think when you're thinking about you know what graduate program to pursue if you're wanting to pursue a master's health health care administration for instance um kind of thinking about how that can connect you to not all the experiences that you want to get but kind of how those experiences will help pivot you know dependent where you'd like to be post uh graduate school so i' would say I think my professors and those within the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota are really helpful kind of connecting and creating those Pathways especially for my opportunities at M Health fairie as a researcher or at Philips Neighborhood clinic operating as a clerk AEL Health scheduler and an operations associate uh for our board I think you know having the opportunity to be within the School of Public Health and also coordinate with other individuals that are in the healthc care field in a way you know like the Physicians or the nurses or social workers and also having the opportunity to connect with them also provides opportunities that you never thought possible that are kind of outside that realm of healthcare administration which I think is very valuable when it comes to uh being in this field I would say also networking I really rely on you know events like AC Congress is something I'm going to um soon coming up but other just local events through your AC chapter or other you know similar organizations that can connect you to leaders um or individuals and organizations that you might have interest in some of the connections I've made have been through those and have provided the opportunity of where I am today so I think leveraging your network is so key to finding those opportunities and you know having individuals be like oh I know how you have this experience or I knew you were looking for something like that and kind of helping bridge that Gap to finding where you want to be very good advice leveraging your faculty your network and then also being intentional like you said on what you want to do and how it's going to benefit you afterwards that's that's wonderful and so with all this experience one thing that I've been asking uh our fellows who have lots of experience before going into the fellowship or more than average I guess is um why did you choose to pursue a fellowship yeah that's a great question you know even though I have these amazing experiences you know I think it doesn't hurt to get a little bit more experience so I felt like I needed a little bit more experience to not only experience but also kind of tailor you know did I want to be in healthcare I wasn't really sure what aspect I wanted to pursue I know I was interested in operations or strategy or population Health but you know what opportunities was I really interested in and I really feel like I needed a deep dive and I think the fellowship you know regardless if it's a year or two years really provides the opportunity or even consider other opportunities that I had never thought about before I think it really is a unique experience to survey the entire Health System to not only understand how each piece individually but how each piece comes together as a whole for the system and again really finding what aligns best as you kind of navigate through the system as as a fellow and then what you want to look like you know post Fellowship in your career I don't think there's really another opportunity like a fellowship graduating I really want to make sure that you know you have experience early in your career to really set yourself straight with you know where you want to Pivot I think the ability to meet leaders all across the system and kind of build that mentorship and relationship for years to come post Fellowship is also something that it provides and you know and versus maybe being more sty in a career Postgraduate School so again that networking piece and kind of alignment I think is key and that's what kind of what the fellowship provides and that was something that I was looking for can't say it's for everyone but I think it was the right decision for me and what I needed at the time absolutely yeah I know that makes a lot of sense I I so I guess a few questions on that too how many fellowships did you apply to and then why did you end up going with uh UC and San Diego yeah absolutely great question I applied to 12 programs which I think it's a lot I think a lot of people might not apply to as many as I did some people might apply like to 1 to four or 5 to six but I really wanted to see kind of all the potential opportunities that really spoke to me and kind of evaluate my options I appli to programs mostly in the west coast because when you're thinking about a fellowship you know it's somewhere where you could be for five plus years and so thinking not only for your career but also where you're actually going to be physically living is think is important to consider but I appli to places in California Oregon Washington and Chicago Chicago and the application process is very different because it just kind of depends on the organization that you're applying to and so everyone's experience I think is going to be a little different because again every organization has their own timeline and process so regarding application you know you could be applying on nav cast While others have you apply on their own jobs website and so you kind of have to coordinate and figure out where that is each application I think has different requirements as well so like for some instances they might require one letter of recommendation versus maybe one to three one being academic and one being professional that can have those different components um some applications also have additional questions that require a short paragraph response and so um again those can kind of depend um on the organization that you're applying to um I would say across the board a cover letter and a statement of purpose are pretty typical and required I would say the statement of purpose is the most important piece of your application you know the resume and everything else I think is great but really having your why Healthcare and why you align and why you really want to be at this organization is something that I know after going through you know recruiting our next set of fellows is something that we really value in the application process and then I think the timeline piece too is tricky you know some institutions start their application in August and September some October November December and so you're kind of playing this timeline game between you know hearing back from different organizations at different times and so you know you might really want two organizations but they might be at two different timelines and so sometimes it makes a little difficult to choose but you know as you move through the process and the interviews I think you start to realize where you're meant to be definitely and and why did you go with uh where you went with how did you know yeah absolutely well of course I love the UC system I knew that's kind of where I wanted to be after working at UC Irvine Medical Center last summer as an intern in the ambulatory Department I just loved the UC model I loved academic medicine and I knew that's like really want where I wanted to be at the Forefront of innovation and research while also you know facilitating that patient care component but when I interviewed at UCSC you know they were one of the best hospitals in the country and the best in san dieo county just rolled around research in several different respects but when I was interviewing with you know the individuals their leadership really stood out to me the preceptors that oversee the program Chad Vandenberg and Lisa Murphy were just such phenomenal leaders and I knew in the interviews that they would be able to provide you know the type of mentorship and guidance that I would need and you know as it careerist as well as meeting the other fellows and leaders within the organization you know having that longstanding fellowship program and retention of fellows really spoke to me that you know this program will really provide the uh the steps and leverage that I need you know to be successful as a young careerist and I think I knew from the final round of interview that you know these were the type of people that I wanted to surround myself in and that I could be inspired by and so I Knew by the end of the final round interview that you know if I was given the opportunity that I would love to have a place here and I'm glad I I'm so glad it did that's excellent wow and so then what was the first few months like and what kind of you know Fellowship is it uh you know just some details on that yeah absolutely our fellowship is a oneyear project and rotational based fellowship and so that was also something I was looking for I was looking for a year program um that also could provide that rotation and Project based so the first couple months the first probably five months I was rotating through the system so I was seeing a new space every single week which sounds pretty crazy but it was a lot of fun so kind of going through our different areas you know strategy for one week Finance for one week facilities for one week and just different aspects of the organization and I just even though we nursing even though you know I would never I'm not a nurse but it's so important to have that perspective and understanding of the different components and their leadership and I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to you know understand each piece individually and then you know again how it puts together as a whole for the system is important as administrator especially when you're not having you know a traditional clinical background and also just understanding them where they're coming from and what not I think is important um so yes Project based and then I was also doing projects in between as well through rotating through the system and now since probably December up till now in March um just been doing projects for you know on various initiatives throughout the system and so I kind of like the balance of both you know having to been seen the system but also having the opportunity to kind of of work in different aspects that you know align with my interests or you know I'm asked to work on which is a great you know experience and I think we've just acquired um a hospital and so that's been a really great opportunity to see as a fellow um behind the scenes and you know and we're going to create a new partnership as well so a lot of great things going on at UCO Health just as a fellow and the you know just the rotation and Project based experience yeah that mesh of of rotation and project base as well I was talking to a fellow earlier today and it's it's the same reason for his as it was you know it's challenging to choose you know I guess one or the other each has pros and cons having that mix is is I think excellent so what are some of the areas that you are really looking forward to maybe working in long term or that especially are of interest to you yeah absolutely I think the two areas that I'm leaning in most would be either project management so project manager either working with our transformational health department or our Physician Group and or I'm a project manager for our Cancer Center I absolutely love the team there I'm also considering looking at Clinic operations uh manager positions as well so I think those are kind of the two areas I'm looking to at the moment wow that's uh that's very exciting can you tell us what you know draws you to those areas yeah uh well first I think operations is just you know the core I feel of the organization like really functioning how we work in different capacities and I think being a clinic manager especially like being going through the day today with those on the front line it's it's just unique experience as an administrator and a needed experience and kind of you know how do I manage the day-to-day work but also how do I incor incorporate projects that enhance you know not only the work for our patients for my team and my staff I think it's such a unique and opportunity and Healthcare and then for the project management side I like that area of work as well because working with diverse stakeholders across the organization so we're working with Physicians we're working with is you know we're working with our call center our Clinic managers our directors and kind of figuring out how we can delegate you know some issues in regards to you know service line specific or across the Continuum of Care and so having that opportunity to work with you know different individuals for the same goal I think is what's great about project management within the health system oh definitely that sounds like a both of those sound very exciting you know so you you've been successful I assume you're probably looking to stay with the same organization yes absolutely that would be you mentioned that a few times so uh the the fellowship retention is good so I want to ask do you have any tips for for those earlier on who are aspiring to be in a position that you are and who want to do you know as good of a job as you've done yeah absolutely I think if you're wanting to pursue in a Ministry of Fellowship especially I think networking ear early doesn't hurt I think when I was thinking about a fellowship I reached out to current fellows and past fellows of the organization as well the head stay within the institution and kind of asking why you know why do you like to work here why does this you know why is this your place of work you know what inspires you to be part of this team and also reaching out to other leaders in the organization I think gives you kind of a good picture before walking into the application process and really solidifying where you want to apply and being intentional like you said on where you want to be again I think networking within your local community is also great you know if you're a part of a graduate program kind of leveraging the types of opportunities and Partnerships that you can provide you know while you're at school I think is essential as well and I I think also just finding a really good Mentor a mentor has been so key for me not only in this Fellowship but in my past roles as well having an individual who understands you know where you are and where you've been and helps you where you want to grow and Thrive as a young you don't know everything right and so it's really nice you know have a when I'm really going through something or I have a question or an application question or whatever that might be you know depending on where you are I think just having them as a a North star is so key and helping you you know get to where you'd like to be definitely a person question um here uh how did you find your Mentor yeah that's a great question some of them just kind of evolved naturally right I mean at UC Irvine Medical Center Doug nowinsky was such a mentor to me in the summer and really helped kind of push me towards the fellowship especially being a fellow other other mentors I've had throughout the way my fellowship for instance have just been leaders that I've met across their rotations or her past fellows and I lean on them for advice all the time um other mentors have just kind of evolved naturally I've founded events um that I've gone to like networking events and it's just crazy now we're still connecting you know years later um so I just think sometimes it just you can find mentors in all places you know whether it's you know already set or just naturally fluid and just kind of happens um I think that's the best kind of mentor to find though excellent well thank you so much for your advice I think all of it's been very good and for coming on uh I think it's around four o'clock in California right so not too late in the evening yes that's correct uh well excellent enjoy the the weather out there in the community and hopefully we can connect again as you progress into your full-time role yes absolutely thank you so much for having me I appreciate it</p>