Earning my Master of Business Administration degree at the George Washington University's School of Business will provide me with the skill sets, theoretical experience and practical experience to achieve both my short-term and long-term professional goals. An MBA will complement my scientific educational background, successful work experience and inherent ability to comprehend and formulate appropriate reactions to complicated situations. Thus, this degree will help me become both a leader in the business and healthcare communities, and become a more significant contributor to the strategic decision-making at any organization.

Eight years ago, I joined the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) relatively unfamiliar with healthcare policy and politics. However, I was quickly thrust into what would become the beginning of the ACCC policy department. One of the most rewarding accomplishments of my career involved helping to protect Medicare beneficiaries by impacting legislation and regulation regarding Medicare's outpatient prospective payment system. I worked with a team of talented and passionate healthcare professionals to analyze the proposed regulation which would have fundamentally altered the delivery and financing of cancer care. After recognizing that the proposed system would adversely affect cancer patients by providing hospital cancer programs with a disincentive to provide state of the art care, I was charged with spearheading the initiative to determine the financial impact of this proposal on hospitals and patients. Utilizing a consulting firm to conduct aspects of the analysis using the Medicare Standard Analytic File, I translated its results into tangible effects and demonstrated how the proposed system would prevent Medicare beneficiaries from obtaining quality cancer care. Our results and recommendations were published and used as evidence by ACCC and others on Capitol Hill, persuading Congress to pass legislation which would eventually change the Medicare outpatient prospective payment system. This endeavor helped me prove that I could significantly impact the business of healthcare and also crystallized in my mind how I wanted to make my contribution to our society.

While the association routinely achieved Herculean accomplishments with limited resources, I recognized that it was also limited in its function and growth, and therefore would have been even more successful with an additional focused business and management influence. I realized that with more practical and academic business experience I would have been better able to help the association meet its full potential.

At Quintiles/The Lewin Group, I have been asked to assume primary operational responsibility for 15-person consulting practice, generating approximately $5.0 million in annual revenue. This includes business development, resource planning and financial management. While I have been relatively successful at this endeavor through on-the-job learning, I understand that my success is somewhat limited by a lack of formal education training. With the knowledge and skills gained during the MBA program, I am confident that I will be able to have a greater impact on the strategic decision-making within any organization. Earning my MBA is one significant milestone in my quest to reach these goals.