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Naudya Chhuon, UIHC Accounting and Financial Services (MHA '25)

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This summer, I had the opportunity to be a part of the Finance and Accounting Services team (FAS) at the University of Iowa. My internship allowed me to better understand what it is like to work in finance and accounting, especially within the healthcare industry. From managing a vaccination clinic project to tackling financial models, I got to contribute to some and be a part of some fun projects. One of the highlights of my internship was being the go-to person for all things related to the HPV vaccination clinic with the Population Health team. This project provides Shoes for patients under 13 years old who obtain their 2 nd  dose of the HPV vaccine. I found myself at the center of communication between four different teams, which meant I got to lead meetings, and make sure we were all on the same page. Our big event is coming up in the second week of August, and I am proud of how smoothly everything has been running so far.  Another big part of my summer was getting my hands onto f
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Kassie Owens, Babes- Bolyai Univeristy (MHA/MPH '26)

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Bună ziua and salutări from beautiful Cluj-Napoca, Romania!  I am delighted to share my experience with my Global Health Program summer internship abroad offered by Babes-Bolyai University and the Cluj School of Public Health. The Global Health Internship Program provides personalized summer educational experiences for international students with various healthcare career paths and interests, including medical shadowing, public health research, community health practice, rural health, pharmacy, health management, and so much more! I chose to apply for the community health practice track of the program because I aspire to work with non-profits in my career after graduate school and pursue health policy that makes a difference in population health and systemic improvement for healthcare access and equity. Based on my interests, experience, and personal identity, I created a plan with my program advisor to work with a local LGBTQ+ NGO (non-governmental organization) called Queer Sisterhoo
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Lissa Alva, UIHC Strategy (MHA '25)

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This summer I had the pleasure of doing my administrative internship with the Strategy team at University of Iowa Health Care. The Strategy team works to explore internal and external opportunities to improve health access and quality through University of Iowa Health Care. I worked closely with Bailey Badker, a Strategy Consultant on the team, to expand my knowledge of current projects and explore where I can gain varying exposures and enhance my skills. This internship has given me a greater understanding of the work stream undertaken as new ventures and opportunities are considered for the organization. I was able to learn a great deal about upcoming initiatives, provider relations efforts, and proforma creations and reviews with the Finance team. My main project this summer revolved around cleanup efforts for our referring provider database and exploring where we can improve the entry process. Through this project I was able to see the impact data inconsistencies can have on a syst
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Kiersten Bahr- Iowa Healthcare, Patient Access Center (MHA '25)

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  Hello from Iowa City!   This summer I have had the privilege of interning at the Patient Access Center (PAC) with University of Iowa Healthcare. The PAC is the contact center for scheduling at the university making it a gateway to access for patients. During FY24, the PAC scheduled  nearly 900,000  appointments for patients within Iowa Healthcare amongst many specialties. The acquisition of Mercy has caused an increased workload for the PAC as the patient access specialists will now be taking on some of their call volume as well moving into FY25. My preceptor Keri Semrau, who is the director of the PAC and Integrated Call Center (ICC) oversees the integration of these services and ensures smooth transition. I am also working closely with Michael Hesseltine (ancillary services) and Neil Christiansen (operations) who are directors within the PAC on various projects throughout the summer.  One of the projects I was assigned for the summer was Patient Access Collaborative 2024 benchmarki
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Kaitlyn Fuerst- Intermountain Health (MHA '25)

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  Hello from beautiful Logan, Utah!    I had an exceptional summer completing my internship at Logan Regional Hospital, a 148-bed hospital part of the Intermountain Health System. Intermountain is a nonprofit health system with 33 hospitals and 1 virtual hospital in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Montana, and Kansas. Logan Regional Hospital (LRH) is a community hospital and trauma III medical center. It is also consistently recognized as one of the top 100 hospitals in the U.S.! Logan, Utah, has a population of about 40,000 and is located in northern Utah, about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City. Brandon McBride is the CEO/President of LRH and has been my preceptor throughout the summer. He is a Utah native but ventured to the Midwest to earn his MHA degree from the University of Minnesota!   Throughout the summer, I was involved in a wide array of projects, which provided me with invaluable experience and a proficient understanding of hospital operations. I took on multiple pr
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Kennedy Wykle- UIHC, Inpatient Operations (MHA '25)

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  This summer, I am completing my internship with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics ( UIHC ) , specifically with the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) ! The CMO team is led by UIHC’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brennan. I have had the opportunity to work closely with various members of the team, including Greg Kirkman, who is my preceptor and the Service Line Executive for Adult Inpatient Operations, Jackie Buol, the Director of the Clinical Staff Office, and Sam Mitchell and Jaclyn Hall, both Quality and Ops Improvement Engineers. The CMO team does a lot of work related to inpatient units, medical directors and physician leadership, residents, and some quality impro vement work.    Throughout the summer, I have been able to work on various projects, participate in important meetings , partake in leadership rounding, attend workshops, and even have some clinical observations on the floor with physicians, nurses, PT, and OT.    Each week, I split my time between the
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Anthony Lacy, Iowa Healthcare- Community Clinics (MHA '25)

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Hello from Iowa City!      This summer, I am completing my internship with the University of Iowa Community Clinics (UICC) and Health Ventures (UIHV) . UICC is comprised of clinic s that are not locat ed on the main hospital campuses , and we have over 26 clinical locations across Iowa . Our department is organized into three categories : walk-in clinics, primary care clinics, and specialty/outreach clinics . Following the Mercy acquisition earlier this year, w e have added 1 0 more locations . Our specialty /outreach clinics provide 35 specialty service lines such as O B/GYN, urology, cardiology, pulmonary, endocrinology, and dermatology . Altogether , UICC h as over 550,000 patient encounters annually and continues to grow each year . My preceptor is Rachel Kirchner , the Director of UI Community Clinics and CEO of UI Health Ventures. I have also worked closely with Assistant Directors Bekka Cappussi and Erin Willits . Rachel and Erin are both alums of the I
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