Texas A&M Health Science Center, School of Rural Public Health
University of Alabama-Birmingham Case Competition
This spring, we will be sending a case team to represent our program in the University of Alabama-Birmingham Case Competition. Our team is comprised of Lyndsey Simpson and Katy Chavet, both 2nd year students, and Mai Hoang, a 1st year student. The team has already received their case, and have been diligently preparing for the presentation. We are proud of these students, and wish them the best of luck as they travel to Birmingham.
ACHE Case Competition Results
The North Texas chapter of ACHE sponsored a case competition this fall, providing students with the possibility to hone their presentation and strategic planning skills. Our student team consisted of Emily Allen, Xavier Escobar, and Camille Casey, who were our 2nd year representatives, and Steven Luther, who was our 1st year addition. The team presented their solution to a case involving the expansion and renovation of multiple hospitals within an existing health system. Local healthcare executives served as the competition judges.
Women’s Networking Series
The MHA program has created an opportunity for our female early careerists to hear from other women in the healthcare industry. Our Women’s Networking Series calls for women who have years of healthcare experience to come and speak to our female students, in an effort to engage them with relatable concepts and advice. On January 25, we had the pleasure of having Kathy Powell-Florip come and speak to our students. Previous speakers have included Cris Daskevich, Senior Vice President at Texas Children’s Hospital, and Kathy Krusie, CEO, St. Joseph Regional Health Center, Bryan, Texas. We feel that this is a great opportunity for our students, and hope to incorporate more aspects to this series in the future.
Spring 2012 Cohort
This spring, we welcomed 5 new students to our program. This is one of the strongest showings as for the amount of students admitted during this semester. This cohort offers a wide variety of skill sets and educational background, in addition to many having 5+ years of working experience. We are excited to incorporate these students into our program, as we continue to provide students with the tools necessary to become effective healthcare leaders.
Student Fellowship Placements
Executive in Residence, Jack Buckley along with the faculty and staff have continued to focus on preparing the second year students for interviews for their Fellowship experiences they will enter after they complete their academic work.
We are happy to announce that 10 of our students have secured fellowships upon graduation. Our students have worked hard to obtain these coveted positions, and are representing the program in a great way.
Katy Chavet – Oschner Health System
Susan Geistweidt – Lone Star Circle of Care
Courtney Gordon – Our Lady of the Lake
Perry Heard – Catholic Healthcare West
Rachel McKown – University of Texas Medical Branch
Kaley Meadows – University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Jason Schweitzer – Palmetto Health System
Lyndsey Simpson – Pitt County Memorial Hospital
Kyle Toomey – The Methodist Hospital
David Weiser – Genesis Health System
10 Year MHA Celebration
We are very excited to announce that the MHA program has been in existence for 10 years! What great strides we have made in this amount of time, and we hope to continue this success. To celebrate this milestone, we will be honoring our alumni and current students for the accomplishments they have made while representing the program.
Dr. Thomas Miller-Appointment to Editorial Boards
Thomas Miller, Ph.D., M.B.A., has been appointed to the Veteran’s Administration Scientific Merit Review editorial board for Informatics and Research Methods in the Health Services Research and Development Service. He has also been appointed to the editorial board of Primary Health Care: Open Access, a peer-reviewed journal.
Dr. Bita Kash-Appointment to Editorial Boards
Bita A. Kash, Ph.D., M.B.A., FACHE, assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, has been appointed to editorial boards for two peer-reviewed publications: Primary Health Care: Open Access Journal and the Journal of Healthcare Management.
Dr. Larry Gamm-Regents Professor
Dr. Gamm, also designated a Regents Professor, teaches in the MPH. MHA and Ph.D. programs in the TAMHSC-School of Rural Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management. He also developed and directs the multi-university National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Center for Health Organization Transformation (CHOT). Dr. Gamm’s research and teaching focuses on health care management and improvement, with research primarily on electronic medical records, chronic disease management and rural health. He directed the development and publication of the widely used “Rural Healthy People 2010,” which addresses rural health conditions and rural models for health innovation. We would like to congratulate Dr. Gamm on this wonderful accomplishment.