Guest blog by Deya Chatterjee
Healthcare is a rapidly growing community at Booth and here are a few experiences that stood out for me personally.
Classes
Before Booth, I had worked with payers and pharmaceuticals, but lacked insight into the provider side of healthcare. Prof Adelman’s Healthcare Business Analytics class, focused on hospital operations, was the perfect opportunity to fill that gap. The Healthcare Analytics Lab, also taught by Adelman, has been my most challenging class so far.
As part of the Lab, we tackled a real-world patient access problem for an academic medical center, working in diverse teams with students from across UChicago (including physicians, data scientists, and policy experts).
Presenting our findings to a room full of hospital executives was a rare opportunity to hone my public speaking & persuasion skills.Another interesting class was The Business of Pharmaceuticals, taught by a healthcare supply chain leader who was also a former pharmacist.
Graduate Program in Health Administration & Policy (GPHAP)
Outside of Booth, the GPHAP program has provided an interdisciplinary learning experience across health policy, law, and social services – which was particularly helpful as an international student.
One GPHAP class covered the evolution of US health policy, which turned out to be useful over the summer when I was working on a payer’s Medicare strategy for my internship. Additionally, the cross-school community facilitated by the program was a great resource in case competitions – I’ll never forget the experience of driving over to snowy Michigan at 2 am in the middle of a blizzard and pitching our health equity solution to a full audience the next morning!
Overall, pursuing GPHAP was possible because of Booth’s flexible curriculum, and it was a great opportunity to substitute my lack of a healthcare degree at no extra cost or time commitment.
Community
Booth has a unique location advantage as many large healthcare companies, including top payers & providers, are located in the heart of downtown Chicago (where most Boothies live) – not to mention the significant healthcare presence in the Midwest. Naturally, I found it very convenient to meet people for in-person coffee chats during recruiting.
Additional sources of support are healthcare-focused career advisors, i.e., 2nd year students who worked in healthcare over the summer, and the Healthcare Group (HCG).
Overall, the biggest advantage of Booth personally has been its flexibility, allowing me to maximize the utilization of relevant Booth resources while being less siloed and diversifying my exposure across UChicago.
