Tatiana Bush has yet to begin her career in the health care industry, but the unique experiences she has gained since graduating from California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) have helped her land a coveted internship with the United Nations (UN) in New York City.
Bush, who earned her bachelor’s degree in health care administration in 2016, is now in the Master of Public Health graduate program at New York University (NYU). While buried in coursework at NYU, she is also helping restructure the UN Medical Services Division so it can better manage the health care needs of its peace-keeping staff stationed around the world.
“I’m working with the medical director who is the top manager for the division. There is an organizational restructuring launching right now, and I’m working directly with her on it,” said Bush, who began the internship in October 2018. “I’m working with qualitative data to monitor the UN’s engagement with clients and to get their input on how they’d like to see the department reorganized. It’s important to connect with the people who work here and make them part of the process.”
A native of Irvine, Calif., Bush enjoys living in New York, and with all the health care employment and networking opportunities in the Big Apple, she may decide to stay there after she graduates.
“There are just so many opportunities out here, like this internship, which is really helping me become well-rounded in my career options,” said Bush. “This has been a booming field for a while.
It’s really great to know I’ll always be able to find a job almost anywhere in the country.”
According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released in October 2017, employment in health care is projected to increase by 11.5 million by 2026—an increase from 156.1 million to 167.6 million jobs—as the aging population continues to drive demand for services.
The industry’s recent employment growth has stemmed more from administrative and management jobs than physician positions, which is great news for students like Bush who spend their limited spare time building their portfolios with health care management internships and apprenticeships.
Earlier this year, Bush served as a graduate research assistant at NYU, engaging clients and performing tasks that align well with her new gig at the UN.
“I worked on a 10-year longitudinal study at NYU regarding Hurricane Katrina—trying to find past survey respondents to gather data about how the hurricane has affected them since it happened,” she said. “The study and its data will provide information that helps citizens better prepare for the next hurricane, and first responders, such as FEMA, determine what is needed to make sure people receive subsequent housing and other resources to move forward.”
Bush traveled back to the West Coast in the summer of 2018 to intern for the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where she took on a more managerial role.
“I created budgets for the program that we were implementing, which was a youth development program that integrates the division’s engagement with adolescents throughout L.A. County. I also delivered presentations, created training materials and research funding opportunities,” she said.
“I also have experience as an executive administrative assistant for SG Homecare, a family-owned business in Costa Mesa [Calif.]. They needed assistance restructuring and better aligning their mission,” Bush added. “It’s been great. All these jobs have provided me the perfect experience for what I’m doing at the UN and what I want to do in my career.”
Bush’s overarching reason for choosing to work in health care was to learn the ins and outs of hospital management, and what it really takes to run one efficiently.
“I want to manage my own hospital someday, or even a hospital system like Kaiser Permanente because they are the top dog in the industry,” she said. “At this point, it’s really hard to tell where I may end up. There are just so many directions I can go in this field.”
