Recently Career Services incorporated a survey question into our webinar evaluations asking if our webinar attendees would be willing to share their career success stories on our blog. LeeTanya is a student in Walden’s Master of Public Health program who shared how her work ethic and desire for lifelong learning advanced her career.
LeeTanya is the Academic Program Coordinator in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at a large hospital in Southern California. In this capacity, she manages the Residency Training Program and also handles administrative functions for seven fellowship training programs for a total of 28 housestaff.
LeeTanya started her career in the healthcare field in high school where she worked as a file clerk in the nurse’s office. From there, she worked her way into hospital admissions, insurance verification and patient registration. In 1998, she joined her current employer as a Management Assistant I responsible for scheduling, insurance verification and patient registration.
When a position opened for a Management Assistant II, she lacked the position’s academic program knowledge for the hospital’s residency program. However, she applied and was hired laterally with the condition that she could be promoted to the higher position within six months. The supervisor promoted her after six months because “everyone liked her.”
LeeTanya attributes her promotion to her active listening skills and willingness to handling fellowships in addition to her residency program workload. After she was promoted, LeeTanya discovered that Human Resources had a job title and description already created for an Academic Program Coordinator. She requested and was granted that new job title which was a better fit for her responsibilities.
In addition to her work responsibilities, LeeTanya makes a difference as an active volunteer in the hospital’s “Music for Healing Program” where she sings for patients. In June 2008, she received an award for donating over 100 hours of service to the community.
A lifelong learner engaged in continuous professional development, LeeTanya is certified by the Training Administrators of Graduate Medical Education (TAGME) and served on the examination taskforce. She has presented at 6 professional pathology workshops through the National Residency Evaluation Center (NCERP) on topics pertaining to program administration.
LeeTanya’s goal is to earn her Master of Public Health degree to serve the underprivileged through helping them obtain medical insurance. She would also like to assist with establishing healthcare clinics and provide preventive healthcare. We appreciate her sharing her career success story with us and wish her continued success in her career.
Written by Lisa Cook, Senior Director of Career Services