Will Owings is the 2025 recipient of the Susie B. Yates Award, presented annually to a second-year Master of Health Administration (MHA) student at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health. Sponsored by the South Carolina Hospital Association, the award recognizes academic excellence, leadership, service, and strong potential for executive success among students from North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia.
Will has maintained a perfect GPA while serving as President of the Healthcare Leadership Association (HLA), a member of the MHA Advisory Board, and a representative on the Dean's Student Advisory Council (DSAC). Faculty and peers describe him as "an exemplary leader" and "a seasoned healthcare professional."
As a Graduate Assistant in the Lexington Medical Center Emergency Department, Will played a key role in developing a live ED dashboard that improved real-time data visibility and patient care. Jay Hamm, VP of Operations at Lexington Medical Center, commends Will's "analytical mindset, leadership qualities, and drive to improve healthcare."
Will completed his residency project titled Urgent Care to Freestanding Emergency Department: Feasibility and Alternative Solutions and will begin his next role this summer as an Administrative Fellow in Physician Network Support Services at Lexington Medical Center.

Dr. Catherine Millender is a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) - Orangeburg. She serves as the medical director for respiratory services across four counties and is an elected member of the MUSC Medical Executive Committee. A proud University of South Carolina alumna, Dr. Millender currently sits on the USC Alumni Association Board and is completing her Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree this spring through the Executive Track.
In recognition of her dedication to the field of healthcare management and her academic achievements, Dr. Millender is the recipient of the 2025 Foster G. McGaw Scholarship Award, presented by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA). This prestigious award supports graduate students who demonstrate exceptional potential in the healthcare management profession.
Outside of her professional and academic commitments, Dr. Millender enjoys spending time with her family, including her twin eleven-year-old boys and two rescue dogs, Stella and Luna.

Ruta Patel is the 2025 recipient of the Foster G. McGaw Scholarship Award, a prestigious national honor presented by AUPHA to graduate students who exemplify academic excellence, leadership, and strong potential in healthcare management. She is currently pursuing her Master of Health Administration (MHA) at the University of South Carolina, where she maintains a 4.0 GPA and is recognized as a top student in her cohort.
Ruta serves as the Case Competition Chair for the Healthcare Leadership Association and recently represented USC at the UAB National Case Competition, where she and her team developed an innovative, financially sustainable healthcare strategy.
As a Graduate Assistant at the South Carolina Office of Rural Health (SCORH), Ruta supports rural health system innovation, grant writing, and data-informed decision-making. Her residency project, Optimizing Service Line Placement and Exploring New Service Opportunities at Allendale County Hospital and its Associated Rural Health Clinics, reflects her dedication to improving healthcare access and efficiency in underserved communities.
In Summer 2025, Ruta will join Forvis Mazars US as a Healthcare Strategy & Finance Consulting Intern. With a blend of academic rigor, leadership, and commitment to healthcare equity, Ruta embodies the future of healthcare leadership and the values of the McGaw Award.

Chynna A. Phillips, MSW, MPH, is a former community organizer who turned philanthropist with over a decade of nonprofit experience and a professional career that tells a story of advocating for and alongside vulnerable populations. She is now the South Carolina Jurisdiction, Senior Advisor for Foster America, where she provides comprehensive support to SC Department of Social Services to build out their prevention initiatives. She began her career working for a school that equipped children who fell below the federal poverty guidelines with private education and work experience through a work-study program. She later served as a servant leader intern for the Children's Defense Fund to aid in their efforts to dismantle the cradle-to-prison pipeline before continuing her career journey in South Carolina in community health, teaching students a health-based youth curriculum in four different school districts within the Midlands. Ms. Phillips then worked her way up to the Senior Director of Policy and Research for a Foundation devoted to alleviating poverty within the state of South Carolina, where she led the Foundation's public policy and advocacy work, collaborating with leadership to strategically set policy priorities, and bringing awareness to system-level poverty drivers.

Currently, Chynna acts as an advisory body member for the Cypress Fund, a political organizing home for North and South Carolina community members focused on building political power for marginalized communities. She also serves on the board of directors for the Conservation Voters of South Carolina, and the Richland County Public Education Partners. In partnership with her husband, Ms. Phillips is also a proud small business owner of Regal Lounge Men's Barbershop and Spa, located in the heart of downtown Columbia, South Carolina. For her commitment to health equity Mrs. Phillips received the 2023 Gerry Sue Arnold Alumni Award from USC, Arnold School of Public Health. Nationally, her leadership was recognized as a 2022 Association of Black Funding Executives Fellow, statewide as the SC State Newspaper's 2020 "Top 20 under 40, Young Adult Honorees", and locally as the Columbia Business Monthly "Best and Brightest: 35 and Under" -Class of 2019. She is a graduate of Xavier University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and the University of South Carolina, where she obtained her Master of Public Health and Master of Social Work. She is a proud immigrant from Nassau, Bahamas, mom of one, loving wife, sister, and friend to many.

Jenna Hartman is the 2025 recipient of the Michael D. Jarrett Scholarship Award sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Public Health. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Public Health with a minor in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina. Through reflection and the invaluable guidance of mentors and professors, she recognized that continuing her education was the right next step and chose to pursue a Master of Public Health in Health Services Policy and Management at USC.
In her first year of the MPH program, Jenna served as the Quality Improvement Graduate Assistant at USC's Center for Health and Well-Being, supporting data collection and service evaluation efforts. During the second year, she held two roles: Graduate Research Assistant at the Center for Applied Research and Evaluation (CARE) and Graduate Intern at the Center for Rural Health Leadership.

These experiences, combined with the mentorship of incredible supervisors, further strengthened and broadened Jenna's interests in rural health, community-based programming, program evaluation, and quality improvement.

After graduation, Jenna will step into a full-time role as Associate Program Director at the Center for Rural Health Leadership.