University of Iowa Health Management & Policy

By: Ian Montgomery Clinical Associate Professor and Executive MHA Program Director Advancing to Leadership is the program’s tagline and that’s exactly what our 2018 graduates are doing! Within just four months of graduation, 75% of that cohort advanced to promotions or new jobs. One is Sean Boarini, (Executive) MHA '18, who is now the Director of Surgical Services at The Iowa Clinic in Des Moines. Sean shared his administrative expertise with our traditional-track first-year students when they were there for a site visit in September. (see below) Sean Boarini (Executive) MHA '18 presenting to first-year Iowa MHA traditional-track students. Two recent Executive MHA graduates chose to leave their employments and start administrative fellowships. Katie Fredericks, (Executive) MHA '18, joined Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles in July of this year and Katie Schaier, (Executive) MHA '18, will join UI Physicians in June 2019. Leaving employment after graduation to...

2018 First-Year EMHA Cohort  By: Ian Montgomery Clinical Associate Professor and Executive MHA Program Director  The executive MHA track continues to experience growth in almost every dimension. This year’s incoming cohort is the largest (15), has the highest percentage of clinicians (2/3), and most students attending our Des Moines campus (7). We are especially proud of the experiential diversity in our cohorts, with our five-year totals showing parity in clinician/manager enrollment.  The program currently has 28 instructors, and two-thirds of those are healthcare administrators. Almost every course has two instructors, with 82% (all but three courses) including at least one who also works as a healthcare administrator.  Bri Johnson has also been promoted to Coordinator of Executive Academic Programs where she’ll focus on prospective student development and faculty support.  We’re excited to start ramping up recruitment for 2019 admi...

By: Alexa Saco (MHA '20) The University of Iowa MHA Program has one of the most dedicated alumni bases in the country. Because of their support, we have been able to provide a record amount of financial assistance in 2018-19. Last fall and early spring, we were able to award over $37,680 in recruitment scholarships, and 28 Graduate Assistantships (worth approximately $630,000) to help recruit exceptionally talented MHA students to Iowa. Additionally, this fall we were able to provide over $19,000 in merit-based scholarships to our returning students to honor their outstanding work. Through the generosity of our alumni community, we are happy to be able maintain Iowa’s reputation of recruiting and developing outstanding MHA students.  A major priority of the University, College and our MHA program is to ensure our programs support diversity, equity and inclusion. By securing funding through the College of Public Health and the University of Iowa Graduate College, we...

MHA 2020 Cohort at UnityPoint Health - Des Moines with MHA alumni Swati Panchal (MHA '17) and Paige Jaeger (MHA '13) By: Alexa Saco (MHA '20)  For the first time as a class, the University of Iowa first-year MHA students made their way to Des Moines to visit with alumni at two different health care organizations. Being the first excursion of the year, the day started off right with coffee and doughnuts.  The first visit of the day was an exceptional presentation at The Iowa Clinic in West Des Moines. The students were greeted and given a thorough and engaging overview of The Iowa Clinic by alumnus and current Administrative Fellow, Carly Correll (MHA ’17). They were able to get the administrative and clinician perspectives on running a physician-owned health care organization from Pediatrician Dr. Dan Pelzer and the administrative perspectives from Director of Inpatient Surgical Services Sean Boarini (MHA ’18), and Jamie Carlson, the Chief Human Resources Offi...

By: Alexa Saco (MHA '20)  MHA Class of 2020 On August 20 th  the University of Iowa MHA program started the academic year with a group of 24 new students eager to begin their journey of master’s level education. The MHA class of 2020 is a well-rounded group of students showing outstanding potential for the future of health care. The incoming class is characterized by high levels of academic achievement paired with diverse backgrounds in the health care workforce. The new cohort’s work experiences range from positions as entry-level administrators in hospitals, health insurance consultants, x-ray technicians, Medicare coverage analysts, and much more. They bring an extensive amount of knowledge to the table from all aspects of health care and this is reflected in their appetite in the classroom. As far as extracurricular activities go over the first few months, the students have gotten involved in a wide variety. These include volunteer opportunities such as even...

By: Marisa Polonsky (MHA '19) University of Iowa MHA Students at Rush University Medical Center  The Iowa MHA Program has made it an annual tradition to attend the ACHE CHEF Fellowship Fair in Chicago. It was hosted this year in the beautiful facilities of the Northwestern Prentice Women’s Hospital on the evening of September 20th. This annual event provides an opportunity for our students to interact with other fellowship candidates from health administration programs across the Midwest, and network with current fellows and program sponsors from 30+ administrative fellowship programs across the country. To kick off the night, our very own Matthew Jerome (2nd year MHA Student) helped kick off the event by facilitating the Q & A session with ACHE President Deborah Bowen. Students then attended the Fellowship Fair and were able to rotate to tables representing each of the fellowship programs in attendance to learn about the program structure, application process, and un...