Event Recap: Business In Healthcare

On January 30th, Girls For Business hosted our fifth event “Business in Healthcare.” The event featured five highly accomplished panelists, Serena, Amanda, Laura H, Laura L, and Belicia, who shared their experiences in the business and healthcare field. The event explored the intersections between business and healthcare, real-world challenges as a business professional, and more! Participants from 16 U.S. states and 7 different countries gathered together to hear each panelist present their experience and to ask questions during the Q&A session.

Serena Dasani is a resident physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston pursuing a career in anesthesiology. She has a BA in Neuroscience from Columbia University, an MD from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA in Healthcare Administration from UPenn’s Wharton School of Business. In the past, Serena has worked as a consultant and teaching assistant at Wharton and an MCAT instructor for Examkrackers INC. 

Although Dasani was originally interested in fashion when she began attending Columbia,  she wanted to have a greater impact on people. One aspect of her journey that she stressed throughout the event was the importance of “trying out a whole bunch of environments and seeing where you feel most like yourself.” Following her advice, Dasani began taking more science classes at Columbia and teaching on the side. Through this experience, she found her love for medicine and teaching. However, Dasani was not ready to pursue medical school just yet. In 2013 she discovered the Fulbright U.S. Student English Teaching Assistant (ETA) program where she taught English and healthcare concepts in Indonesia for a year. Upon returning to the U.S., Dasani continued her educational career at UPenn to pursue an MD and MBA. She wanted to be a doctor but desired to fill the gaps of her knowledge and learn about the intersection of business and healthcare. Simultaneously pursuing an MBA and MD allowed her to answer questions about the discontinuities in healthcare and why “things [in healthcare are] the way they are." The biggest challenge Dasani has faced in her career was her difficulty in committing to one career because of her vast interests. After exploring both clinical and office work environments from pursuing two degrees, Dasani realized that she belonged in the hospital. After graduating, she began her residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The Covid-19 Pandemic swept through the nation during Dasani's early stages of residency. As the virus continues to spread, the challenge of “physician burnout” has been spread throughout the media. However, Dasani finds her residence “empowering” as she has the privilege to  take care of patients during these times. Her day to day life at the hospital involves hands-on action in the operating rooms and overnight calls a few nights per week. Outside of the hospital, Dasani pursues research and wellness initiatives. 

Dasani shared that the best way for high school students to get a head start in healthcare and business is by pursuing their interests. Dasani, along with other panelists, expressed that following one’s passions will lead them on the right path. Furthermore, she emphasized the importance of public speaking skills in any workfield and wished that she started to improve her public speaking abilities earlier. Even as a resident physician, Dasani finds herself watching Tedx videos and observing the speaker's practices to advance her communication skills. 

Amanda Jurewicz is an MBA candidate at NYU’s Stern School of Business and an MD candidate at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine. She has a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology from Vanderbilt University. Jurewicz has three years of research experience from Vanderbilt and is currently working on two research projects at NYU. She has had two internships with the GlaxoSmithKline and is part of Stern’s Healthcare and Women in Business Associations. 

Since her childhood, Jurewicz has wanted to pursue a career in healthcare. Throughout high school, she had an open mind and tested the waters with her interests, which gravitated towards science. Jurewicz stated that “nowadays there are so many opportunities that you have at a younger age” and that taking advantage of those opportunities and networks can help teenagers begin to explore careers in healthcare. These opportunities include conducting research, volunteering, or shadowing doctors and healthcare professionals. However, Jurewicz stressed that “if medicine is something you are passionate about, … you will naturally gravitate towards things that are related to it.” As she entered college at Vanderbilt University, she remained science-oriented. Along with studying Cellular and Molecular Biology in school, Jurewicz was highly active outside the classroom too. She conducted three years of neuroscience research and participated in health-related outreach. After graduating Vanderbilt in 2017, Jurewicz attended New York University for medical school. One of Jurewicz’s biggest challenges throughout her journey has been her avoidance of change in life. However, while attending medical school, she had to make a life-changing decision. Although she was at first hesitant about taking a “non-traditional path,” Jurewicz decided to take a year off of medical school to pursue an MBA. As she progressed in her healthcare studies, she found her niche interest within the medical world to be “high-quality healthcare and quality improvement.” Pursuing an MBA allowed Jurewicz to enhance quality improvement in the healthcare industry and in the long term possibly pursue healthcare administration. Her interest in the organizational and business aspect of healthcare led her to choose a university that has both a medical and business school. Her first three years of medical school have been typical with lots of book work and clinical rotations. Jurewicz’s day to day life usually entails spending time in the hospital with patients and medical teams, observing notes, and making clinical decisions. She also takes part in two research projects; her first project researches the intersection of homelessness and substance use, and her second project focuses on the hypertension outcomes of NYC free clinic patients. Jurewicz enjoys the intimate aspects of healthcare as she is with patients on what may be the “happiest day of their life or saddest day of their life.” This summer she will be applying to internal medicine for her last year of medical school and will graduate next spring with a concentration in Healthcare and Sustainable Business and Innovation.

Laura Higgins is the current Enterprise Account Representative at Amazon Business. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Functions from the University of Oklahoma, and was previously a Sales Operations Manager at TOCA Football. When Higgins was in high school, she took AP classes and attended core classes at a local community college, which gave her the opportunity to choose more classes and explore different interests. Unfortunately, Higgins was forced to take an extra semester of classes in order to make up college credits. This made her feel behind, as she struggled with being compared to others that were already in successful jobs. Still, she was eventually able to push through and find more opportunities in healthcare. Higgins discussed how job hunts can take a long time, but she emphasizes that failing is a part of life and that you should own your journey in order to find the career path that is best for you. 

Laura Lewandowski is the Consulting Senior Manager at Client Solutions, holding over 13 years of experience in healthcare, including roles in operations, financial and strategy planning, consulting, and leadership. She received her Bachelor’s in English from Concordia University Chicago, and Master’s in Public Policy and Administration with a focus in Healthcare Economics from Northwestern University. In high school, she volunteered at a hospital and felt that it was not for her so she ended up choosing consulting. She worked with physicians and surgeons, health insurance companies, which gave her the opportunity to "wear different hats" and dip her feet into different career tracks to see what sparked the most passion. She took so many different routes before getting to where she is now, switching from gym teacher to sports medicine, and then connecting with a physician to get her first job. Lewandowski uses all the experience she gathered from her previous jobs in her profession today. Her line of work includes a lot of traveling, and every day is different. She works with people directly, learning about clients’ businesses, their roles and figuring out ways she can help her clients achieve their goals. Asking questions and getting to know her clients and peers is super important for her job. Because healthcare in the places she works is a smaller field, Lewandowski has collaborated with the same people for many years and has built close relationships with them. 

Belicia Tan is currently a Program Manager at Ladder working to build professional communities for the next generation. Prior to this position, Tan was also a healthcare consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton and VOZ Advisors; it was at Booz Allen Hamilton where she developed FERRET, an automated lab data tool designed for the CDC to eliminate the process of manual data entry, as well as to improve research and data analysis in public health. At VOZ Advisors, Tan focused on patient advocacy by educating patients with rare diseases about the development process of orphan drugs. As for Tan’s educational background, Tan has a Masters in Health Administration from Columbia University, as well as a Bachelors in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan. She began her college career by applying to become a Physician’s Assistant, which led her to volunteer in hospitals and complete work as a home aide nurse; however, Tan soon discovered that she enjoyed healthcare administration, and she began to think about patient engagement and how she could improve patient care. Tan explained that she lacked the passion to work directly with patients and was more interested in the strategic aspect of healthcare. She ultimately pursued this path after being introduced to healthcare consulting when she was a sophomore in college. Tan describes her past work in healthcare, and states that she has learned the importance of accepting different identities. She also touched on the importance of knowing how to manage relationships and acquire soft skills when working in business or healthcare. A common struggle amongst Generation Z is how to overcome imposter syndrome. To this, Tan responds that the key to overcoming imposter syndrome is to accept who you are and to discover what you can bring to the table. You should always drive yourself to be proactive, intellectually curious, and to not be afraid to speak. Tan then shared that the best way for students to learn about different careers is by participating in career focused clubs. She recommended those who are interested in healthcare to join HOSA, a competitive healthcare organization that teaches students about different careers in healthcare. She expresses that it is okay not to know what to do yet, but to try and learn about different careers, and along the way you will find something that you are passionate about. 

The GFB “Business in Healthcare” event was a great opportunity for girls all around the world to hear about business applications in the healthcare industry and learn from the unique perspectives of each of our panelists. 

To participate in future events (look out for our February event!), follow Girls For Business on Instagram and Tiktok @girlsforbusiness and stay tuned on our website girlsforbusiness.org