St. Joseph Health is a not-for-profit integrated health care delivery system that has 14 acute care hospitals throughout California, Texas, and Eastern New Mexico. St. Joseph Health is a Catholic system guided by four core values: dignity, service, excellence, and justice.

Specifically, I will be the Fellow for the Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, California. The Queen opened its doors in 1958, and some of its key services include: trauma, heart, and cancer centers, in addition to orthopedic, pediatric, and maternity care.

The first health administration job I ever applied for was at the St. Joseph Health Hospital of Orange. The qualities that attracted me to the organization, then, still hold true today - St. Joseph Health is a values-based organization that has a strong commitment to its communities in the way of partnerships, charity care, and programs like the mobile clinics, and bilingual, community health education classes. During the fellowship application process, I deliberately looked for community-oriented organizations that value health care as something that extends beyond the walls of a hospital, and I found that in St. Joseph Health.

This is the first year the Queen of the Valley Medical Center will have an Administrative Fellow. I am excited by all the work experience possibilities and the opportunity to help shape what this fellowship will be like for future individuals. When I interviewed for the position, the Executive Management Team asked thoughtful questions and seemed genuinely enthusiastic about having an Administrative Fellow on board.

I am looking forward to being mentored by several members of the Executive Management Team, as I complete different rotations and projects.

My health care administration background is in clinic management and strategic quality improvement planning. My work history, coupled with my MHA training, will enable me to lend the Queen of the Valley Medical Center a fresh perspective on quality and operations improvement planning and execution. These experiences have also helped me develop project management skills I will be able to apply broadly, which will be useful given the project rotation nature of my Fellowship.

My health administration experience to date has been in clinic and office settings - So, I'm excited to work in a medical center for the first time. Over the past two years, the UW MHA Program has taught me that the most effective leaders can think and operate from a systems level. I have learned key health care management concepts and strategies in my classroom training. The next step in becoming a true systems thinker is to apply my skills and develop an understanding of all parts and people within the Queen of the Valley Medical Center. In addition to working on projects across a variety of service settings, I look forward to building relationships with Queen of the Valley stakeholders - everyone from front-line staff to service-line directors to the Executive Management Team.

Sutter Health is a large, not-for-profit health system that spans Northern California. I will be based in the Peninsula Coastal Region.

I had a fantastic internship experience this summer working on the Lean strategic initiatives with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. I was attracted to the fellowship as I wanted to be back within the Sutter network and gain a system-level understanding of the organization.

I will be reporting to Jeff Gerard, President, Peninsula Coastal Region

There are many opportunities within the region where I will be located. I look forward to experiences in inpatient and ambulatory care settings, as well as working with the physicians in the medical group.

I have a background rooted in operations management, and along with my Lean training, I believe I will contribute to process and quality improvements.

I am excited to put this education to good use! Sutter is a diverse organization where I can apply much of what I've learned throughout the program. Sutter filed a Knox-Keene permit to develop a health plan, and I look forward to gaining insight into that process as well.

The David A. Winston Health Policy Fellowship is run by a board of trustees who hold high-profile positions in organizations engaged in national health policy. The trustees help fellows conduct over 100 informational interviews with health policy leaders in Washington, D.C. in the first three months of the fellowship. Based on those interviews and the candidate's interests, candidates then seek out a placement.

In past years, fellows have worked for committee staff in the House and Senate, as personal staff for Senators or members of Congress, or in the administration, like the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Health Reform.

There were three aspects of the fellowship that appealed to me. First, I'm unsure whether I would like to do research, policy development, or policy advocacy in the long term, and conducting interviews with over 100 national health policy leaders working in each of those three areas, will help me make my decision in a more informed way. Second, fellows have traditionally received placements in difficult-to-get committees, so I will be doing challenging work right away. Third, the two graduates awarded the fellowship have mentorship meetings with members of the board of trustees. I think I will learn more quickly and be much more productive with a peer and group of experts helping me reflect on my work.

My current policy interests are in value-based benefit design of public programs and payment reform. I won't know which of those areas I will be focusing on or my specific responsibilities until later in the year.

My experience as a dual-degree student in health policy and health administration, and my experience doing work for an integrated health care system like Group Health, will help me consider the implications of policies before they are finalized. I have also been involved in policy advocacy as a student representative on the UW Graduate and Professional Student Senate. I have been involved in the policy process in several ways but never directly involved in the process of law making. Consequently, I think I will be able to put myself in the shoes of advocates asking for policy change and organizations affected by policy change.

I'm excited about meeting some of the researchers and policy makers whose work I have read or read about. I'm looking forward to developing a better understanding of the practical complexities of turning policy proposals into law. Finally, I'm excited about exploring a new city that I've only been to twice (to be fair I had only been to Seattle once before coming to UW)!

Swedish Medical Center was founded in 1910 by Swedish Immigrant Nils Johanson. Comprised of five hospital campuses, two ambulatory care centers, and Swedish Medical Group, Swedish is the largest non-profit health provider in the Greater Seattle area. Swedish provides both general medical and surgical care, as well as a large range of specialized care in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer care, neuroscience, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, pediatric services, organ transplantation, and clinical research. Recently, Swedish's First Hill hospital campus was awarded The Leapfrog Group's Top Hospital award for the third year in a row. In 2012, Swedish formalized an affiliation with Providence Health and Services, which is a large, non-profit, Catholic health care organization with 27 hospitals in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Alaska.

I became interested in Swedish because of its valued community reputation and unique corporate culture. I find Swedish to be a fast-paced, forward-thinking organization that values entrepreneurship and innovation, which are very attractive characteristics in today's health care environment. I'm also very impressed with the quality and character of the clinical and administrative staff at the hospital; everyone is incredibly respectful and focused on how to enhance patient care.

As the Administrative Fellow I will join the senior leadership support team. The senior leadership team is comprised of executives who support the entire Swedish system. Marcel Loh, Chief Executive of Swedish Suburban Hospitals and Affiliates, is the executive sponsor of the fellowship program and Paul Myoung, Senior Finance and Business Analyst, serves as the fellowship's preceptor.

This is a one-year, project based fellowship, in which I will be supporting the senior leadership team and completing projects in other functional areas of the hospital. Potential projects are available in a wide variety of departments (e.g. operations, finance, human resources, quality improvement, strategy, corporate governance, medical group relations, etc), offering an invaluable learning experience that will allow me to gain insights into Swedish's entire system of care. Additionally, since the fellowship program is still in its infancy, Paul and I will be working to build and formalize the program for future fellow candidates.

I am coming into this organization with a strong business background, particularly in finance and strategy. Additionally, having done my MBA in entrepreneurship and technology commercialization, I believe I can add value to new ventures that are being undertaken in the organization, and I can apply relevant knowledge of other industries to the health care realm.

Overall, this is a very exciting time in health care, and I'm looking forward to being part of an organization that is successfully embracing the industry challenges we are seeing. This fellowship provides a great opportunity to learn from a myriad of people within Swedish while developing key skills and leadership techniques needed to launch a career in health administration.

Providence is a non-profit health system extending across five states including Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon, and California. The organization consists of 32 acute care medical centers and hospitals, over 350 physician clinics, a health plan, a liberal arts university, a high school and numerous other health, housing, and educational services. Providence was established by the Sisters of Providence in 1856 and is driven by its mission to provide compassionate service, especially to the poor and vulnerable.

I was attracted to Providence as I familiarized myself with their organization during a class team project to create a business plan for a lung cancer screening program at Providence Everett Medical Center. I was drawn to the emphasis they place on their mission and also enjoyed working with the people I met during the course of the project. The fellowship stood out to me because it is project-based and presents the unique opportunity to work at the Systems Office in Renton. I will be able to contribute to wide-scale projects while also learning how senior leaders are able to operate a large, complex health care organization. I was additionally drawn to the importance placed on personal development through mentorship and the opportunity to complete site visits to various Providence facilities for learning and networking purposes.

I will report to the Senior Vice-President, Chief Administrative Officer of the system.

The fellow's projects are based on both organizational needs and the interests of the fellow. I will meet with my preceptor in the spring to start talking about project opportunities. A responsibility that I know I'll have soon after I begin the fellowship is to help hire the next fellow.

I believe I can contribute expertise in the areas of strategic planning, teamwork, communications, lean thinking, and facility planning. I've acquired experience in these areas in previous jobs, internships, and in my current role at Group Health. Additionally, I think the market intelligence work I've done at Group Health, and in team projects I completed during the MHA program, will help me contribute as a fellow.

I look forward to diving into project work and familiarizing myself more and more with the culture and organizational direction of Providence. I'm excited to work with and learn from my preceptor and team members, as well as the many other leaders at the organization I'll be fortunate to associate with. I'm excited to have opportunities to develop new skills and learn more about areas of health care management I have less experience in.

MultiCare Health System is a not-for-profit health system serving the South Sound. MultiCare has five hospitals, numerous outpatient specialty centers, primary and urgent care clinics.

MultiCare is a leading health care organization in the South Sound. Before joining the MHA program, I worked for MultiCare, and I am very happy to be returning. I was attracted to the Fellowship because of the leadership within the Strategic Planning and Business Development department.

I will join the Strategic Planning and Business Development team and will be reporting to Kristopher Kitz, the Director of Strategic Planning & Business Development and Theresa Boyle, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development.

I will be working on various strategy projects for the organization as well as service line development and expansion.

I am excited to be working for an organization that has been rapidly growing over the past few years. There are many opportunities to learn and grow within MultiCare.