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Honors College students learn from top executives, administrators, and leaders from the healthcare industry about the many career paths dedicated to improving health and well-being
"Those of us doing surgery, operating complex health systems, addressing health disparities, working to ensure health is a human right for all: we are all working hard to replace ourselves with you," explained Melissa Perry, dean of the College of Public Health.
The highly motivated Honors College students who made up her audience received this message with enthusiasm, after hearing from the broad range of careers in the healthcare industry from leaders from top national healthcare companies including Inova, Novant Health, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Care First.
Many students in majors that may not immediately come to mind when thinking about healthcare noted that the event had made them realize that, in addition to the need for doctors, nurses, and medical researchers – there is also an immense need for business administrators, managers, IT and cybersecurity professionals, policy analysts, and more. The accomplished guests were from “all different disciplines, and so they had very different things to offer about the skills and the things we engage in to help us get there,” said Janay Hopgood, a sophomore majoring in Community Health on the pre-med track.
“I would love to learn the skills that they learned to get to where they are right now, I can then apply those in my research, or understanding of how the world operates.” -Avery Shippen, a junior pursuing a dual degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Art and Visual Technology.
The Professional Development Roundtable with healthcare leaders on Feb 28 was held as part of The Professional Development Fellows, a signature program offered for select George Mason University Honors College students. At the roundtable, fellows practiced networking skills and progressed toward their career goals with the advice of leaders from the industry.
Honors College Dean’s Advisory Board member Loren Rufino, BS Health Services ‘12 spearheaded the roundtable and brought five other leaders from the healthcare industry as his guests: Dr. Paula Ferrada, the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Section Chief at Inova and the Chair of Surgery at the Inova Fairfax Hospital; Toni Ardabell, the Chief of Clinical Enterprise Operations at Inova; Alice Pope, the Chief Financial Officer at Novant Health; Amy Turner, the North Virginia Sales & Service Leader at Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield; and Ruth Betru, the Chief of Staff in the Office of the CFO at CareFirst.
“In the Honors College, we have a uniquely engaged advisory board,” Richard Todd Stafford, the Honors College director of Communications, expressed. Rufino is an alum of George Mason and is now the senior vice president of Perioperative Services for Inova Health System. He has been with the company for over 22 years. Rufino’s deep ties to the healthcare industry helped him connect with many other professionals over the years, including all the other roundtable guests.
Dean Perry closed out the roundtable by inspiring the fellows to continue pursuing their career aspirations and "see yourselves as inquisitive leaders."