Summer Internship: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC)

By: Taylor Reber

Hello from… you guessed it, Iowa City!

What a summer! We started at the bottom, now we’re here. My internship has been spent as an avid learner working with Tim Kan, Chief Growth Officer of University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (UIHC). Tim has largely spent his career in the healthcare consulting world working as a director for Navigant Consulting. He has developed a depth of knowledge in enterprise & service line strategy, organizational integration, and performance improvement. He reports directly to and assists Suresh Gunasekaran, CEO of UIHC, in implementing the strategic vision for UIHC. Tim has pushed me and our team to discover ways where we can grow as an organization and individually. He really has become a fantastic mentor and is very invested in my future success.

From day one, I have been put to the grindstone conducting market research and developing scorecards to highlight potential growth strategies. I’ve built various financial projections to support each strategy supported by large amounts of data. Let’s just say I’ve broken Excel and other tools on multiple instances. The work hasn’t come without many barriers and challenges that remind me often that I’m continually learning. Some days I’m getting the hang of it while others feel like I’m accomplishing nothing. Looking back, I’ve come so far and done so much and it’s been rewarding to see that. I hope you all reflect at the end on all that you’ve accomplished. It feels good. Anyway, over the last couple of weeks I have left, I’m moving my projects into the Strategic Execution phase. I’m putting together the preliminary discussions on how the strategies will be delivered to the responsible parties. Of course, those projects won’t be finished when I leave, and I hope that I can participate further throughout this next year.

Even though the internship has been busy, I’ve been able to spend a lot of time exploring the Iowa City area with my wife and kids. Although things have been closed, we haven’t let that stop us from enjoying this awesome time to be alive. We’ve spent time at the lakes, going on adventures around the area (a lot of car rides with crying kids), and spending time with close friends. Thank you politicians for the stimulus check, because we have spent a lot more money on take-out from all sorts of places. We also bought a grill and power tools to complete projects and end that day with a nice BBQ. I did splurge a little with the first paycheck from the internship and I bought a nice pickleball paddle. I spend several nights a week playing with friends and I’ll brag just a little bit… my spins are devastating. Anyway, I hope you all make the time to enjoy the little moments that make life awesome! Stay safe, don’t be too serious, and love your friends and family.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adriana Kotchkoski (MHA '24): Nihon Keiei Consulting Group

Image
Konnichiwa from Japan!   As I sit down to write this blog post, I am filled with a sense of gratitude and accomplishment as I reflect on my time as an intern at Nihon Keiei Consulting Group in Osaka, Japan. This summer has been nothing short of remarkable, offering me a unique blend of professional development and cultural immersion that I will cherish forever.   During my time at Nihon Keiei, I had the opportunity to engage in in-depth research and analysis, creating comprehensive market profiles for the healthcare sectors in the Philippines and India. These profiles laid the foundation for strategic expansion plans, and it was an honor to present my findings and recommendations to a senior consultant during insightful one-on-one meetings. These interactions were not only professionally enriching but also allowed me to witness firsthand how strategic decisions shape the course of an organization's growth.   One of the most rewarding experiences during my internship was t...
Read more

Devante Davis (MHA '24): UCHealth - Southern Region

Image
Hello my name is Devante Davis I am going into my 2 nd year as an MHA student at the University of Iowa!    I am currently interning at UCHEALTH southern region in Colorado Springs, and UCHEALTH mission statement is to Improve lives through providing quality care. My preceptor is Andrew Ritchie the Chief Operation Officer of the UCHEALTH southern region. He great a developing talent while unlocking hiding potential within his interns, and fellow! My favorite project was evaluating what the rest of the world is doing to recover from this global nursing shortage. Summarizing the data and be a part of creating a valuable plan to implement into the UCHEALTH southern region. A few other fun events I attended were the pikes peak annual racing event, viper’s baseball game, the incline!  
Read more

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

Image
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 han...
Read more