Key Takeaways
- UPMC's two-year fellowship model effectively bridges the gap between academic theory and executive leadership by combining rotational learning with hands-on management experience.
For emerging healthcare leaders seeking robust professional development, mentorship, and hands-on experience in a top-tier integrated delivery and financing system, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Administrative Fellowship stands out as a model program among healthcare administrative fellowship opportunities. Designed to provide in-depth exposure to the complexities of a large health system, the UPMC fellowship blends structured core functional rotations, direct mentorship by executive teams, and opportunities for early managerial responsibilities. To gain insight into this experience, we recently spoke with former UPMC Administrative Fellow and current Senior Practice Manager, Chesna Panicker, MHA.
Panicker's journey toward health administration began earlier than most. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, she realized her passion for the administrative side of healthcare as a high school student—an uncommon path in communities where the clinical track often dominates discussions about healthcare careers. While shadowing a vice president at St. Luke's Hospital, she recognized that the hospital environment thrives on much more than frontline clinical care. This early exposure guided her to Saint Louis University (SLU), where she completed a unique "4+1" accelerated program, earning both her undergraduate degree in health management and a Master of Health Administration (MHA) in just five years.
Before pursuing a fellowship, Panicker's early experiences provided a broad perspective on healthcare delivery. While in graduate school, she participated in a health administration internship at SteadyMD, a telehealth startup providing concierge-like services to underinsured and remote patients. The environment was dynamic and service-driven, enabling her to see firsthand how innovative care models can improve patient access.
Later, Panicker spent a summer residency interning at the Cleveland Clinic, focusing primarily on Cleveland Clinic Children’s. There, she benefited from a cohort-based model that fostered camaraderie and professional growth. These foundational hospital administrative internship experiences cemented her desire to take the next step: an administrative fellowship to further hone her leadership skills and operational understanding.
For Panicker, a post-graduate administrative fellowship provided the ideal next step. Coming from an accelerated program with limited full-time industry exposure, she knew the value of a structured, rotational learning environment. Her goal was to build a comprehensive skill set, gain confidence in multiple functional areas, and accelerate her leadership potential. Fellowships, by design, offer these advantages—enabling early careerists to explore various operational facets and refine their career interests under executive mentorship.
Applying for administrative fellowship programs can be both challenging and rewarding. Panicker's experience was no exception. She applied to about seven programs, focusing on organizations that matched her interests and where she could envision herself living long-term. While she initially leaned toward pediatric health systems—given her positive experience at Cleveland Clinic Children's—she remained open to broader opportunities.
When the time came for on-site interviews, Panicker secured six invitations—a testament to her preparation and authenticity. A notable twist occurred when four onsite interviews were scheduled for the same day. Faced with a tough decision, she turned to a simple sign: a Pennsylvania license plate she spotted after class. Taking it as a positive omen, she chose UPMC's interview in Pittsburgh, a decision that felt immediately right when she met the warm, welcoming fellowship team.
UPMC's fellowship is a two-year program structured to maximize exposure and skill development. During the first year, fellows rotate through multiple areas—ranging from inpatient operations and nursing administration to outpatient clinics, facilities management, finance, and even UPMC Health Plan. These six-to-eight-week core functional rotations give fellows a holistic understanding of the system's complexity and interconnectivity. Panicker recalls that this wide range of experiences empowered her to draw upon established contacts and insights later in her career.
The second year of the fellowship focuses on management experience and leading teams. Panicker served as an administrative resident, overseeing a staff of 14–15 individuals. This hands-on managerial role allowed her to apply the leadership skills and system knowledge gained during her first year. Upon completing the fellowship, she remained at UPMC, advancing to a Senior Practice Manager position overseeing four primary care practices.
One of the hallmark benefits of the UPMC fellowship is the exceptional mentorship. Each rotation pairs fellows with a preceptor—often a senior executive—who provides weekly feedback and guidance. Formal evaluations at the end of each rotation allow fellows to chart their growth, while a dedicated mentor and a robust alumni network offer long-term support. Panicker also received formal executive mentorship in her second year, forging relationships that extend beyond the fellowship's conclusion. She now works closely with one of her former mentors, who is part of her leadership chain.
When asked about her most meaningful assignments, Panicker highlighted three rotations:
Panicker's advice for prospective fellows and graduate level students interested in healthcare administration fellowships is clear:
Panicker's journey underscores the invaluable role an administrative fellowship can play in early career development. UPMC's structured rotations, diverse learning experiences, and commitment to mentorship provided her with a solid foundation to grow as a healthcare leader. The fellowship offered opportunities for networking, developing analytical skills, and engaging in meaningful project work across various service lines.
Today, as a Senior Practice Manager overseeing multiple primary care practices, Panicker's story illustrates that the fellowship experience at UPMC is not just a two-year stepping stone—it's a catalyst for a long-term, impactful career in healthcare administration. For those seeking to understand what an administrative fellowship entails, UPMC's program stands out as an exemplary model within an integrated academic medical center, offering a comprehensive introduction to the complexities of modern healthcare management.
<p>so during your rotations your preceptor often a upper level executive um they are constantly serving as a mentor to you you're meeting with them weekly you're getting feedback from them you're expected to get feedback for them so I always thought it was very important to solicit feedback at every oneon-one because I want to improve um every time [Music] hi everyone it's rangi sha with the fellowship review through the American Journal of healthc care strategy today I am so excited to be joined um by a fellow from UPMC but also a peer from my undergraduate institution um chesna panicker so excited to have you chesna thank you for having me mangi yeah so let's just kick it right off um tell our listeners a little bit about your backgr you know where you went to undergrad where you went to grad school you know what your journey has looked like yeah so my name is chesna paner um I'm currently a senior practice manager uh we're seeing four primary care practices in the Greater Pittsburgh area still at UPMC um I just completed my two-year administrative Fellowship here at UPMC um just a little bit about a background about myself um personally I'm was born and raised in St Louis Missouri out in West County and I went to undergraduate um I went to undergrad in St Louis University and also pursued my masters in health administration at slooh as well um slooh is what we like to call St Louis University um and I was actually a part of the accelerated mha program so it was a four plus one so I completed my uh master's degree in five years instead of the traditional six incredible I love to hear it yeah we'll just refer to it as slooh moving forward um just much easier that way um and so tell me you know uh internships let's start there they're a big part of um undergrad as well as graduate school and you know you did two internships at steady MD as well as Cleveland Clinic and so just want us let's start with study MD and and tell our uh listeners you know how you came about that specific internship and what that experience was like yeah so study MD was actually something that I did during grad school during the school year before doing the tradition summertime internship in between your two years in grad school um so stmd is actually it was a like a startup company that um it's a very unique telea Health company um they really did do a lot of Outreach uh to patients and it kind of like concierge medicine in a way like really trying to um provide uh Health Care directly to patients um a lot of patients did not have in insurance or they were underinsured so we helped a lot of them especially the ones that lived in remote areas get referrals to Specialists so that was something that I did as an intern and was really important for patient care and um contributing to the patient uh experience um and it's it's still a thriving company today that's incredible um and I I think you know getting that startup experience is so unique and not everyone has that opportunity so I'm really glad you were able to add that to your toolkit but with that you did a traditional summer internship which is required of many mha programs and you did it at such a wonderful organization Cleveland Clinic so share with our listeners a little bit about that and you know why you ended up picking Cleveland Clinic yeah absolutely so I think slooh mha program does a really great job of providing so many great resources and talks to us so we had um a lot of slooh alumni as clear like we are um even here talking today uh so there was a slooh alumnist that did talk to us from he was a fellow at uh Cleveland Clinic at the time and he spoke to us directly did like a private webinar for the organization and and we had several of those in in our profession professional development class so as a part of that um I was interested in Cleveland Clinic um as their internship as many other organizations as well but when I talked to him it just felt right um and I was particularly interested in Cleveland Clinic children's so um luckily I got that um through interviewing and just showing my interest um and Cleveland was a very similar City to St Louis so it wasn't too different moving there for the summer as well I also lik that it was a cohort model so I think my interest um did show through the interviews and luckily I had a great experience too great support at the organization um whe whether it came to leadership of Cleveland Clinic children's the leadership at of the fellowship and the internship programs and my co- interns as well yeah absolutely and um you know I obviously did not go to slooh mha program but we were together in undergrad and I think slooh just little shout out here gives such um you know a dedicated approach to their student body especially in kind of the health admin Public Health spaces so I completely understand what you're saying um slooh graduates especially from the mha program are so well prepared and um definitely not luck I think it was you know your talent and your hard work that definitely landed you over at Cleveland Clinic and of course in a fellowship which is kind of where I want to um take this conversation next so you know um before I even ask you specifically about your fellowship tell me you know and our listeners why Fellowship what Drew you to even go through the application cycle and then um kind of building off of that would you be willing to share what that Journey was like for you you know how maybe how many places you applied what the interview process was like and how you dealt with that Journey yeah it's it's actually so crazy thinking about that time when it's like three four years ago at this point um but it was a beautiful Journey there was of course times of struggle and Times of stress I guess I'll start with my journey into Health Administration in that realm in general so um I think a lot of people get into Health Administration health management as a total they start wanting to be a clinician of some sort um and then they realize that there's another of healthcare and it was similar for me um but I actually knew in high school luckily that I wanted to do um my journey in Health Administration in that realm so between our Junior and Senior year of high school I went to Market High School in Chesterfield Missouri out in West County um they had like a shadowing program so I was labeled as like a future pediatrician during my shadowing experience and then I left as wanting to be a future healthcare administrator um we spent day with um the VP at St Luke's hospital that's where I did my shadowing experience um and that was the first time I had seen that side of health care because I always thought everyone in the hospitals and everywhere in um the doctor's offices that you see are people that are directly impacting patient care Frontline staff so that's why like in high school like you're thinking that's the only part of it but there's so much more to that so that's when I was starting to look for programs that had both undergraduate and graduate opportunities in that realm of Health Administration so then that's why I um saw that slooh had it was one of the few programs that had Health Management plus a health administration uh option for me at the time now it's definitely grown but at the time it was not as common and I was local anyway so it just felt like this perfect opportunity um and so that's kind of what started my health administration journey in general but when it came to because it was so fast I did the 4 plus1 program I didn't have too much health care experience which really um made me want to do an administrative Fellowship especially something that was rotational that gave me exposure to several different areas and aspects of the health system um not just within the hospitals but I was very interested in outpatient facilities as well which is what I'm in right now so it clearly does show that it works it helps um having a fellowship that has gives you exposure to different things and when it came to the process once again like when when suoh's mha program um gave us a lot of resources we would get so many different uh emails from our professional development um team at slooh um sending us different opportunities at different organizations all across the country um primarily I would say in the Midwest south Northeast some out west too but primarily I would say Midwest and Northeast were probably the most most common ones that we would get in touch with because that's where a lot of slooh alumni were yeah and so we had a lot of different talks um personal webinars they also encouraged us to attend a lot of webinars throughout um on LinkedIn and connecting with fellows and and I definitely wanted to take advantage of that opportunity and and to take that opportunity to network with other people I also partic um I also took part in case competition so I did meet a lot of people through those events as well um so I think it was it was a process I really thought I was going to be sold on uh pursuing a pediatric Fellowship because I did Cleveland Clinic children's I was like I really do like peeds I thought I was going to Pediatric Fellowship most of the ones I did apply to were pediatric um so besides Cleveland Clinic and UPMC the rest of the ones that I had applied to were uh were pediatric fellowships or had some kind of aspect of peeds to it um I applied to I think it was seven I didn't want to go more than 10 for sure because quality over quantity and I wanted to make sure that I was comfortable living in the space where living in the spot where long term uh I I wanted to make sure that I was comfortable living long term in the city that where my fellowship was going to be because I didn't want to leave right after after the fellowship I did want to pursue a career at an organization for as long as I could at least um and Pittsburgh was luckily one of those cities that I didn't have any experience at all um and it's funny how I landed UPMC because I luckily got six on-site opportunities out of the seven that I had applied to however four of them were on the same day um so I had to make uh like I didn't get offers at the first two that I went to and then the rest of the four were on the same day so I had to pick one out of the four and I was actually driving home from class one day in the evening I had an evening class I saw a Pennsylvania license plate and I took that as a sign and I was like I'm going to UPMC um and it's it's crazy how everything ended up but I'm really glad I went with that gut because obviously it ended up working out um but also when I got to upmc's on-site it just felt very at home you could tell that like they their reception the night before um was um at the steel Tower which is the tallest building in in Pittsburgh and it's at like the top level and a lot of the executives are there the fellowship uh alumni are there um the fellowship uh organization like the uh structure like the leadership is there as well and um they like embrace you with the hug when you first come and it's just it just feels very nice because it just shows how robust the program progr is in total um and such a large alumni group as well I think at this point our fellowship program we've had over a hundred fellows almost almost 20 years of fellows so the administrators and the executives all at UPMC are used to having people coming in and coming through I can talk about it later on um too about like the reasons why I pursued UPMC specifically but um I just thought it just felt home and I'm lucky that it worked out yeah absolutely okay what an incredible journey I I knew you know quite a bit about you but I didn't realize that you wanted to pursue Health Management since high school um that's definitely a new thing um and you know props to you for that because I think at least for me in in the South Asian communities that I grew up in health admin was not well known it was kind of like doctor or engineer or lawyer a more traditional route you know um so it's hard going against the grain um so so I you know want to give you Kudos and you know another thing that you said to me that really stuck out not that it surprises me at all is the fact that you had um six final round interviews I'm not surprised about that but how crazy that four of them were on the same day truly a lot at that time a lot of uh programs were on the navc schedule nowadays it's they've a lot of them have moved away but a lot of them were on that navc schedule so I think a lot more coincided but yeah yeah and you know I believe in science too and I think it's amazing that you saw that license PL and you know life has a way of working out so I think obviously you made the right choice um and so kind of you know uh switching gear specifically now to UPMC um before I get into kind of you know why you chose it and maybe the projects and your experience just so our listeners have an overview and you touched on this a little bit throughout the throughout um you know this episode but can you talk about the structure so you know I know you said it was two years and rotation based but tell us more about that what's the um program mentorship or leadership like and then do you have co-fellows yeah absolutely I'm more than happy to talk about it because I really do love the fellowship structure at UPMC so it is two years long the first year you're doing rotations and projects during the rotations they range from six to eight weeks for the most part um so I had rotation such as like a nursing Administration our leadership rotation which is with uh one of the presidents um of one of the UPMC hospitals um and then we had an operations rotation which you spend with the VP of operations at the hospitals um and then we had rotations and Facilities our outpatient division so we had a variety of different rotations and then the health services division fellows um we had also one we rotations because UPMC is so large we're also um an idfs so we have a health plan um just similar to Kaiser um and we had onewe rotations within the health plan just to get some exposure to it and have resources especially with like different contacts and things um and then we also have a technological arm at UPMC called UPMC Enterprises so we had a onewe rotation with them we had a onewe rotation with corporate finance um and tele medicine and so we got a variety we got so much exposure um to all aspects of the organization which is such a great thing that UPMC does because I still pull contacts from my brain from those rotations during that time um yeah and then so the first year is all rotation based and and projects and then the second year is um you get an opportunity to manage people and manage teams um so uh what I wanted to do is I wanted to be a practice manager um and luckily there was a vacancy where um I was um put in and I got to oversee uh staff and I I I got to oversee staff during that uh year and it was wonderful um so I oversaw about like 14 15 people and I still work with them today um and then I expanded my role beyond the fellowship so your second year is really they want to focus on people management having direct reports working on projects something that's value add to you but also a way way for us to add value to the organization um so I really fell in love with primary care and the outpatient division um rotation that I had earlier in the year so I pursued that and it was a great opportunity and it really had um helped my career sore from there so I expanded my role currently and so now I oversee four practices instead of one so I currently manage the staff at the practice that I was managing and then oversee the managers at the other practices that's incredible um and remind us do you have co- uh co-fellows yeah yeah I'll go over the structure so um the structure of the fellowship program when it comes to support and mentorship you have they assign you like Co like a an alumni person for a fellowship alumnist um and then you get matched with uh one of the fellowship directors we have Fellowship directors um there's about four or five of them now we have expanded at when I first started it was just three but we have expanded to five because we have regions and different divisions so it was better to expand it and then I have CO co-fellows as well so in my year we had five of us so there was three including me in Pittsburgh and then we had one in Erie um and then one out in Harrisburg as well so that was five of us but we switch off every year of how much how many fellows that how many fellows that we um how many fellows that we Rec recruit every year um for our positions because it's such a large organization and some regions recruit some years and some don't but we recruit for Pittsburgh every year got it no totally makes sense and I'm I was a regular growing up at Pittsburgh and I always liked it I think it's a very cool area so totally understand that um and and kind of like digging a little bit deeper into the fellowship kind of a two-part question um you know of course you have that Fellowship Mentor who's like a former fellow but what is mentorship like generally like when you're going through these rotations you know were you able to identify executive leaders who you could kind of turn into lifelong mentors and kind of what was that experience like for you yeah absolutely so during your rotations your preceptor often a upper level executive um they are constantly serving as a mentor to you you're meeting with them weekly you're getting feedback from them you're expected to get feedback from them so I solicit feedback at every one-on-one and also at the end of the rotation we always had form formalized evaluation so we would as fellows would evaluate the uh preceptor and the rotation itself and then the preceptor would also evaluate us as fellows um and then that would be sent to the next one and then we would just improve on there just to see to evaluate your growth throughout the year um and another thing I I think I forgot to uh mentioned earlier was that we got um executive mentorship like formal executive mentorship um during our second year of the program as well so that did also serve as additional support um but yeah absolutely we have um incredible executive leaders that I have I've maintained close ties with um and especially like not just the preceptors themselves but the preceptors teams um and yearly we have um that Fellowship night prior to and then that's when I uh engage with all of them in person again um so it's really nice to see them again and catch up on all the changes that have been going around nationally within Healthcare and at UPMC as well um and I I have kept in contact and very close contact with my uh one of the fellowship directors that is was my mentor very close mentor and I actually work on her uh team at right now she's like my boss's boss so I do makeing very close relationship with her as well that's incredible and I think uh you know a lot of the reasons why people do fellowships is for that mentorship and that you know access and exposure to senior leadership so I'm so happy to hear that you know your fellowship kind of prepared you for that um and so kind of a fun question but any rotation or any project during your fellowship that was your like absolute favorite that's a really hard question I but at the same time it's not so hard I really did enjoy so many of my rotations I think maybe three of them kind of like they shine a little bit more to me because I I just resonate with them a little bit more um my first rotation was the outpatient division rotation that I'm currently working in um because that just it just resonated with me because I liked seeing all the outpatient workf flow and the because like I think when I was younger What attracted me to Healthcare in the first place was how friendly everybody was in my Pediatrics office and just like thinking back to it I wanted to make sure that anything that I manage in the future would replicate that um and I currently do banage offices that are very similar in that culture so I really did like that because it felt familiar but it also what made me more passionate to want to pursue that kind of very caring patient care sure so that's what brought me to that and that's what really brought that rotation to light I think the most um and then I really enjoyed my facilities rotation we had a rotation in facilities so that's everything besides clinical care so that is environmental services that's parking that's uh food and nutrition and I spent a day with some of the employees um serving food to people and I think that was just a wonderful experience um being Frontline staff at that point and it was just wonderful to see not only serving employees but patients as well um and I thought that was a beautiful experience and and I think we really do Overlook all of the non-clinical pieces in healthcare whether that's outpatient um or inpatient in hospitals as well so I think the facilities rotation was very eye openening and also nursing Administration that was very interesting too um to see all kinds of different nurses um meeting with all of them um and hearing a lot of their um um frustration sometimes during um times of hardship um we were at the time transitioning one like consolidating two different positions into one uh it was like a Care Management type role um and there was a lot of push back and uh at that time um but eventually it was it was the right decision to make from the organization but it was so inspiring to hear all of their stories and knowing and I got to sit down with a lot of them during my nursing uh Administration to to Shadow them as well to see what they're what they're doing for their day-to-day yeah ey opening to see every piece that they do they they were they were tracking literally everything from discharge um until when uh yeah from after they got uh discharged from the hospital trying to organize their social work needs and all of that so that was also eye opening yeah absolutely all three of those sound like incredible experiences and I think very essential to a fellow someone who's an early careerist it's important to go spend a day with EVS or go spend a day with nutrition services you know I also did all of those things so I definitely resonate um and you know uh kind of my last question and how I want to round out this interview you had an incredibly successful um cycle for your fellowship um applications and so if you wanted to give advice to a candidate right now or if there was something you'd go back and be a little bit more mindful of what would that be I think it's really basic advice um but I know we always hear be yourself but genuinely be yourself and just show what you're passionate about because that does really come through an interview um I think I always say this to slooh students because I still what I do talk to some of the slooh students sometimes throughout the years but um something that I really took seriously was the interview because I think the most difficult part is getting from that first round interview to final ons sits vers application to getting a first round interview um so I always recommend to record yourself speaking yeah um just take your take your camera it's going to be uncomfortable um take your camera um and record your video video and audio and or just audio but I would prefer video and audio so you see how you look when you speak and also practice that star method I think that was also incredible because I think I can ramble on and on sometimes so then I think giving some structure to my answers but not sounding too scripted but sounding more authentic and genuine I think is very important in the interview and don't try to act like somebody that you are not clearly and it's okay to be a little casual at times obviously do it in the most appropriate manner um you don't want to be too casual you do have to Ste there from that um because you want to maintain professionalism in an interview setting but I think it is very important to record yourself and just see and check yourself how many times you might be using filler words may maybe you might be playing with your hair too much um things like that little things so I would definitely recommend anybody to record themselves for sure and also I think apply to to locations that you can see yourself being in um for a long period of time absolutely location matters so much because like of course a fellowship takes up a good chunk of your life but you're going to have life outside of work too so you might as well enjoy the city or town that you're going to be living in and that's something I tell everyone all the time um no but great advice and I think kind of to the final note I'll say is I I think being authentic there's so much value especially in this process because you want to find the right fit for you and the organization wants to do the same for themselves so totally makes sense um well Chesnut thank you so much for coming on the episode today I know this um episode once our listeners tune in it'll give them the opportunity to not only hear your great advice and you know listen to your journey but also hopefully apply to um the UPMC Fellowship next year um and again it it was a pleasure reconnecting and chatting with you thank you</p>
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