Tag: Olin Healthcare Symposium



On Thursday, November 3, 2016, the Weston Career Center and Health and Life Sciences club held the annual Olin Healthcare Symposium. This flagship event was attended by a variety of graduate students from the full and part-time MBA program, medical school, public health and social work, supply chain management, and Ph.D. program. We also had representatives from Ernst and Young, ECG Management Consultants, The Resource Group, Amitech Solutions, Lumeris, Compass Clinical Consulting, Kindred Healthcare, and ePharmix.

olinThe theme of the symposium was the “Integration of Healthcare Operations in the Transition from Volume to Value-Based Models.” Our keynote speaker was Lee Bernstein, the Regional Executive Vice President of Hospital Operations and Chief Operating Officer of SSM Health. He spoke of current challenges in providing care, adherence to quality programs, and the “survival mode” of the state of hospitals. During the transition model from volume-based to value-based models, Mr. Bernstein emphasized the need to have “a foot in each canoe”—utilizing volume-based models to gather revenue while optimizing the hospital to comply with value-based models.

A panel with representatives from Centene and The Resource Group spoke more of the theme of transition from volume to value. The panel also discussed current healthcare industry trends and news, provided advice to our graduate students on career choice, and made recommendations on how to have a successful healthcare career. Students can potentially join the 15 percent of the previous MBA Class of 2016 that accepted jobs in the Pharma/Biotech/Healthcare Industry.

Here is some career advice that a graduate student should consider:

  • Arvan Chan of Centene advised using a summer internship to determine whether you like working in healthcare or not, and to also be open-minded and flexible when considering various sub-sectors of the healthcare industry.
  • Dr. Amy Poole-Yaeger of Centene expressed that healthcare is very broad, and there are many opportunities available that you can find based on your interests and strengths.
  • KaLeena Thomas of The Resource Group, found that despite her initial disinclination to work on a healthcare consulting project, she found herself working for a health system client in Columbus, Ohio and later realized that the healthcare industry needed individuals who had business acumen, a willingness to solve problems, and a “passion to give back in a bigger way.”
  • KaLeena Thomas echoed Dr. Yaeger’s statements that being in healthcare is “personal”. KaLeena urged “Think about you, think about your parents, your friends, your sisters, and brothers—all of you are going to experience the healthcare system, so we need really smart people that can work in this industry and make it a system that we all want to be a part of.”

The night concluded with a hor d’ouevres and drinks at a networking reception. Our graduate students had an opportunity to ask our speaker and panelists questions. They also connected with special guests from local companies, many of them Olin alumni.

We want to extend special thanks to our keynote speaker and panelists. Thank you for sharing your valuable insights and advice! We appreciate your time and effort in giving back and engaging with the Washington University community.

Guest blogger: Francis Monsada, MBA ’17