May 3, 2021 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
Tennessee native Leslie Watson was 11 years old when her newborn brother was diagnosed with heart failure. He had open-heart surgery and was hospitalized for a month while he recovered.
“The first few years of his life were filled with lots of doctors’ appointments and follow-up visits, which very quickly made our family acquainted with the ins and outs of the healthcare world,” Watson says. “After seeing the impact that the doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals had on my family’s life, I knew that I wanted to be involved in the healthcare field.”
“I knew from my husband’s involvement with the university and my own research that UofSC cared deeply about their students and their success in the professional field.
-Leslie Watson, Master of Health Administration 2021
As a high school student, Watson gained additional knowledge and experience through her involvement in Healthcare Occupations Students of America, even serving as Middle Tennessee State Vice President. While attending East Tennessee State University, she explored various healthcare professions – looking into clinical fields such as nursing and pharmacy through academic courses and part-time jobs. She found she had a knack for accounting and ended up pairing it with bachelor’s degree in business administration, knowing she could apply her foundation in finance/business to a career in healthcare at some point.
Watson found her chance to combine the two fields when she and her husband moved to Columbia so he could attend graduate school. While working as a corporate accountant, she applied to the Master of Health Administration (MHA) program. Housed in the Arnold School’s Department of Health Services Policy and Management (HSPM), the MHA degree prepares students to lead organizations involved in the management and delivery of health and healthcare services.
“I knew from my husband’s involvement with the university and my own research that UofSC cared deeply about their students and their success in the professional field,” Watson says. “I loved the personal touch that the HSPM department’s faculty had, and I was especially excited about the opportunity to work part-time at a healthcare organization throughout my graduate program as I knew that would give me the hands-on experience in needed in the healthcare world to be a competitive job candidate post-graduation.”
In parallel with her academic coursework, Watson spent the next two years working as a graduate assistant with Prisma Health Medical Group’s Department of Family Medicine. Both in and out of the classroom, she developed her interests and expertise in increasing patients’ quality of care and access to care through various projects (e.g., time studies of clinical flow, providers’ patient panel size, closing gaps in care, contract evaluation).
The industry needs individuals who are passionate about healthcare and solving the myriad of problems that currently face the healthcare industry in the United States.
-Leslie Watson, Master of Health Administration 2021
Watson also returned to her service/leadership work as an active member and then as president of the UofSC chapter for the Healthcare Executive Student Association. She and her team organized professional development seminars (e.g., LinkedIn/resume workshops, guess speakers from local healthcare industries) and volunteered in various capacities in the community (e.g., gifts for children’s hospital/home, mission meals, blood drives, vaccination clinics). Watson and her classmates also had the opportunity to compete in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Healthcare Administration Case Competition, becoming the first UofSC team to advance to the semi-final round.
Across these experiences, Watson found a mentor in MHA director and assistant professor Bankole Olatosi (“Dr. Banky” to the students). “Dr. Banky truly cares about his students and their success, and he will go above and beyond to make sure that you have what you need to be successful,” Watson says. “I know that I will keep in touch with him and rely on his professional guidance for years to come.”
After her graduation this month, Watson will join Care Allies (a subsidiary of Cigna) as a senior analyst in the insurance organization’s Provider Engagement Administrative Residency Program. For those considering a career in healthcare administration, she highly recommends taking on the challenge.
“The industry needs individuals who are passionate about healthcare and solving the myriad of problems that currently face the healthcare industry in the United States,” Watson says. "I truly believe that, during the lifespan of my future career, we will see the healthcare landscape drastically change in this nation. I am excited to be able to influence and be apart of that change, and I want to work alongside people who are excited to do so as well. I will forever be thankful for my time at UofSC, and I know that without a doubt that I will be a better leader and healthcare administrator from my time in this program.”