Kara Conway 2006 MHA / MBA

SUMMER RESIDENT

Kara Conway investigated a variety of healthcare management programs. When she visited Minnesota, she sensed it was where she wanted to be. "The alumni network is expansive and involved. The ownership and investment they have in the students is a key indicator for me that the program is worthwhile and has a great foundation," said Conway. "In the first week my feelings were affirmed—the faculty are excellent and very welcoming. I knew I was in the right place."

Conway wanted to experience a different healthcare market during her summer residency. "The program asked where you wanted to be, in what type of setting, and what kind of institution and preceptor you would like to have and tailored the residency for each student based on their desires. The program has such a large pool of choices, they can find the right match," Conway noted.

Residency Preceptor, Tim Wemple, COO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates— a multipayer, multi-specialty medical group practice— believes in giving summer residents difficult, complex, long-range and high-level problems that are vital to the organization. During her residency, Kara is also attending executive meetings at many levels of senior leadership. "I watch how the meetings are conducted, how physician leaders and executive leaders think, their processes—bouncing ideas off each other, brainstorming, collaborating, making decisions."

For Wemple, mentoring a summer resident "is a chance to give back to a program that really made a difference for me. It gave me a sense of responsibility and an obligation on behalf of my organization to do what’s right from a healthcare perspective—and great tools to do the work. I use the problem solving method every day. It is a mental approach and discipline that is incorporated into my day-to-day work ethic."

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