Our Graduate Healthcare Management Students Continue to Shine in the
College Bowl Case Study Competition
Congratulations to the CBE’s Graduate Healthcare Management team who continue to place in the top 3 teams at the 2017 Western Region College Bowl Case Study Competition. One of 12 teams competing at the Healthcare Executives of Southern California event, Chrysa Servou, Karla Salmon, Daniel Vi and Anagha Shinkre developed a persuasive proposal and five-year strategic plan for Children’s Hospital of Orange County earning third place overall.
Their success reflects the quality of the Master of Science in Healthcare Management program and the preparation and training of the students participating. In three of the last four years our graduate students have consistently placed in the top 3 teams, competing against teams from other regional leaders including USC, UCLA and Loma Linda universities.
The competition is considered the premier event for graduate students in the industry. The students compared the rigor of the competition to a crash course for the comprehensive exam. The judging panel of healthcare executives were impressed with the team’s proposal noting that they planned to bring several original ideas back to their strategy teams at the hospital.
Our students’ success is even more impressive when you realize that most colleges hand pick their best students to participate. HCM faculty mentors Barry Hunt and Dr. Andre Avramchuk let interested students volunteer. Chrysa, Karla, Daniel and Ana represent the breadth of students in our program.
Chrysa was a successful medical rep at GlaxoSmithKline in Greece managing over 400 client accounts. While rewarding, after almost 3 years of a hectic schedule traveling she was looking for a new challenge. After researching several options, California’s reputation for involvement in healthcare innovation and reform led her to Cal State LA.
Karla is a program legacy of sorts. Her sister graduated from the program over five years ago. Even as a Communications major at Cal State LA she knew she’d follow her sister’s footsteps and earn her own MSHCM. She’s been working full-time at Pacific Alliance Medical Center while pursuing her masters.
Daniel always wanted to work in the world of healthcare. He loved science as a kid and as he got older felt he could help more people from a strategic level. He earned his bachelor’s in Public Health in 2016 and has been working in public and private healthcare environments since 2011.
Anagha already has a Bachelors in Health Administration from Mumbai University and eight years of work experience but wanted the additional exposure to hospital administration in the U.S. She chose Cal State LA in large part because of the hands-on opportunities the MSHCM program offered, including the College Bowl competition. She served as an alternate this year so she could be better prepared for the competition in her final year of the program.