Four Students from New MHA Program Awarded Fellowships
First Class to Graduate in MayLate one night in June, 2006, Reginald Cantave woke to an urgent call alerting him that the approximately 1,800 Cook County nurses were threatening to strike. Cantave was asked to be a part of the intense collective bargaining process that followed and to help develop a contingency plan in case the nurses did strike.
Cantave is not a Cook County healthcare executive – yet. Cantave is a student from the first graduating class of the new Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Healthand was working to avert the threatened strike as part of his appointment to the Cook County Bureau of Health Services during his preceptorship, or internship.
Cantave and three other exceptional MHA students from the graduating class of 12 have been awarded postgraduate fellowships this spring and are on their way to becoming the next generation of healthcare executives. Acceptance into these advanced training opportunities is just one indication of the talent in this first class of MHA graduates.
The new program, housed in the School’s Division of Health Policy and Administration, aims to equip effective healthcare administrative leaders who carry with them the essential commitment to community health nurtured by an education in the UIC School of Public Health.
“There is some serious talent here,” said Dr. Benn Greenspan, who is the director of the program. “These are the future healthcare executives and they come from a program that emphasizes the delivery of healthcare services to the public through accountable, ethical leadership.”
Reginald Cantave
On a pre-med track at UIC before graduating with a degree in business management, Cantave was interested in finding a way to fuse his interest in the health sciences with his interest in business. At an open house at the UIC School of Public Health, Cantave learned about the MHA Program, which he felt was the perfect opportunity.
“This program has been very educational in many ways,” Cantave said. “In addition to what I learned about the healthcare system, I learned so many things about myself that I never knew before. I also learned time management, team work and how to work as a group for a common goal.”
During Cantave’s preceptorship with the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, he had the opportunity to shadow then CEO Daniel Winship, who retired in November, 2006. Cantave’s work gave him the chance to visit and/or work in many of the county’s three hospitals, 30 clinics and the ambulatory care division of the Cook County Jail.
Cantave said that a student in the UIC School of Public Health MHA Program gains experience that you won’t find in similar programs around the country.
“This program offers a different view of community-based healthcare and the people associated with that type of healthcare,” he said. “You are in Chicago, which is one of the healthcare centers of the world. Through the preceptorship you are able to see first hand how healthcare is delivered in the U.S.”
In the MHA Preceptorship Program, the elite of Chicago metropolitan area and Illinois/Indiana healthcare leaders mentor MHA candidates throughout their studies in the program. MHA preceptors are successful executives in healthcare institutions and organizations who are paired with a student based on the student’s interests and career goals. The preceptor relationship provides an opportunity for the graduate student to obtain firsthand exposure to management, leadership, and governance.
Cantave has been awarded a fellowship at the American College of Healthcare Executives, which, with more than 30,000 members, is the dominant professional association of healthcare administrators. He hopes to one day work as the CEO of a hospital, or set up his own healthcare organization.
Boyede Oluwole Sobitan
Boyede Oluwole Sobitan was working as a registered nurse in a hospital intensive care unit when he decided that he wanted to do more to provide all people with equitable access to healthcare.
Sobitan began to search out business graduate programs to compliment his clinical training, when a friend told him about the MHA Program.
While continuing to work part-time at his nursing job, the 25-year-old Chicagoan, whose family is from Nigeria, was able to go to class, become a graduate assistant and work at a preceptorship, or internship, at the University of Chicago Hospitals alongside the hospitals’ Vice President Jamie O’Malley.
Sobitan said that he is honored to be a part of the first class to graduate from the UIC School of Public Health MHA Program.
“If you are thinking of going into healthcare administration, this is the place to go,” Sobitan said. “Being a part of this program is like being a part of a family. Unlike larger programs, here you get direct access to your professors, many of whom are healthcare executives and CEOs.”
MHA Program faculty members are currently involved in leading healthcare organizations and bring their direct experience of working in large hospital systems, community clinics, public health systems, research institutions, and other healthcare organizations to their classrooms. The program helps students to make the connection between the classroom and the workplace.
Sobitan has been awarded a fellowship from Advocate Lutheran General and will go to work as an assistant to the hospital’s CEO after graduation.
Lubina Perez
Lubina Perez was a pharmacy technician and a volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT) at a free health clinic in Chicago when she decided she wanted to pursue work in healthcare administration. She was most attracted to the UIC School of Public Health MHA Program because of the preceptorship program, which allowed Perez the opportunity to work at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with CEO Susan Nordstrom Lopez.
During her preceptorship, Perez rotated through the hospital’s administrative departments and found that Human Resources seemed to be a good fit for her. Her goal now is to one day be the Vice President of Human Resources for a hospital.
Perez said that her experience with the MHA Program was very intense. In addition to working as a graduate assistant, Perez said that because she graduated from UIC with a degree in Psychology and did not have a business background, she had to work diligently when competing among MBA’s in the business courses MHA students are required to take as part of their curriculum.
“I knew that if I could finish this I could finish anything,” she said. “Fortunately we were paired with great professors who helped me through it. This truly is a great program.”
The MHA program offers the benefits of course work encompassing the business experience of the faculty of the UIC College of Business Administration, the broad healthcare expertise and understanding available from the diverse faculty of the nationally ranked UIC School of Public Health, and the unique learning opportunities available through educational placements in the local, regional, and national healthcare organizations located in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Perez was awarded a fellowship at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Derrick Tung
Derrick Tung spent one year in medical school before he decided that instead of being a doctor he wanted to affect change by working on broader healthcare policy.
Tung’s preceptorship with Donna Thompson, CEO of the Access Community Health Network, enabled him to work with the underserved and uninsured in Chicagoland through the organization’s 47 area health centers. Working on strategic goals including looking at how to improve the organizations’ human resources package, Tung had the opportunity to visit about 30 of the health centers.
Tung said that the UIC School of Public Health MHA Program is strong because of the experience students get from both their preceptorship and the program’s faculty, who bring both academic and executive practice experience to the classroom.
“This is a great opportunity to gain real world experience from working executives,” he said. “When you graduate you are connected to the decision makers in the Chicago healthcare market.”
The MHA Program provides practical tools to become an effective executive, as well as the theoretical understanding to provide leadership in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. MHA students experience the unique challenges and opportunities facing healthcare services in Chicago and the Midwest, while developing an understanding of healthcare systems at the national level.
Tung was awarded a fellowship at the UIC Medical Center, where he will work alongside CEO John DeNardo.
For more information about the UIC School of Public Health MHA Program, please contact the Academic Coordinator at the MHA Program Office, mha@uic.edu.
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