MHA Student Wins 2009 Postgraduate Fellowship In Chicago

The Master of Healthcare Administration program at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health recently announced the recipient of the Advocate Good Shepherd Fellowship.

Expected to graduate this May, Elise Trauscht said she has been anticipating this kind of opportunity since she began her public health studies.

“This is something I have been working to get since I started graduate school,” she said. “I am very excited and thankful for my chance to work with Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital’s president, Karen Lambert, and all the staff.”

Raised in Mundelein, Illinois, a small town northwest of Chicago, Trauscht graduated with a BS in Biology and a minor is Religion from St. Mary’s College of California. Before beginning her studies at the UIC SPH, she worked as a pharmacy technician for two years.

For her capstone project at the school, Trauscht studied the merger of Advocate’s four medical groups.

“The merger’s purpose was to give the growing medical groups a stronger presence in the Advocate system,” she said. “It also helps to reduce costs by eliminating duplications of systems and produces higher quality by using best practices throughout the group.”

Though she currently works as a preceptor at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical center and as an intern at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, as a Fellow, she will have the opportunity to participate on the senior management team and attend board, planning, medical staff and executive meetings. The one-year rotation is directed by members of the senior management teams across Chicago’s eight Advocate hospitals, three physician practice organizations, home health care agencies and corporate offices.

Trauscht will complete a project in operational and/or strategic areas adapted to her needs and interests.

“I am very interested in operations and performance improvement. But I am also hoping that this fellowship will give me an opportunity to explore different areas,” she said.

Benn Greenspan, clinical associate professor and director of the MHA program at the school, said Trauscht exemplifies a future leader in the realm of public health administration.

“Fellowships are scarce across the country, and being awarded a prestigious fellowship is a measure of the quality of our graduates and the growing recognition of our program,” Greenspan said.

In previous years, MHA program graduates have received fellowships from Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, Advocate Lutheran Hospital, American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Evanston Northwestern Hospital and Cardinal Health, Saint Vincent Health of Indiana, University of Illinois Medical Center and University of Pennsylvania Health System.

-- Tina Daniel

Elise Trauscht