Sanja Hudson is a Walden Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) alumna and an independent consultant with over 28 years of experience in healthcare. She works to improve operations, processes, and procedures within large hospital systems. Sanja shares how volunteering, perseverance, and her doctoral program helped her advance in the healthcare field and thrive as a healthcare consultant.
Career Progression:
My career in healthcare administration started when I volunteered at a community health organization as a greeter. While I greeted patients, I also sought out opportunities to learn new skills. When the organization was short-handed, I offered my help to staff members and, during that process, I learned to use a new health informatics system. This was the start of my healthcare career. From there, I earned my bachelor’s degree, then landed a Manager of Billing position at a federal qualified healthcare center where I built a department of up to 40 employees. I kept learning and eventually I progressed into director and executive director roles at healthcare organizations. Currently, I consult multi-million university hospital systems on healthcare operations.
Professional and academic skills I gained during my doctoral program:
Most of all, my doctoral degree taught me how to be patient; I take time to research information and put it together in a strategic way. Also, my heightened research skills helped me gain a deeper understanding of the healthcare field and stay up to date on new policies and procedures. I apply the Baldrige framework, which I learned during my doctoral program, with my healthcare organization clients to help outline their strengths and weaknesses; they love it!
Would you like more tips on how to become an expert in your field? Review the following resources:
- Doctoral Career Pathways Conference recordings: Explore six common doctoral career paths, including consulting, to expand your career possibilities.
- Doctoral Career Pathways Guide: Read additional doctoral success stories for career advancement ideas.
Do you have a career story to share? Contribute your story to the Career Services blog
Contributed by Walden DBA Alumna, Sanja Hudson
Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from a story published in the Doctoral Career Pathways Guide in September of 2019.