Department of Health Administration Highlights
2018-19
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Ellen Love, MHA CandidateEllen Love will be joining the Mayo Clinic Administrative Fellowship Program in July 2019 upon graduation from the MHA program. She will be based in the Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, WI for the two-year, operations focused fellowship. Ellen is excited for the diverse experiences that the Mayo Clinic fellowship offers and is looking forward to exploring the areas of patient experience, accreditation, and service line operations. Prior to joining our program, Ellen completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Central Florida in Accounting. She then spent four years working as an in-store HR leader for Target. While at UNF, Ellen served as president of the Health Administration Student Association and as a member of the UAB Health Administration Case Competition team. She also completed internships at Mayo Clinic and Baptist Health.
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Sara Stophel, MHA CandidateSara Stophel is an MHA and MBA candidate at the University of North Florida graduating in Spring 2019. She received a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences with a Business Certificate from the University of South Florida in 2016. During Sara’s tenure at UNF, she served as the Spring Banquet Chairman, Vice President of Health Administration Student Association, 2018 UNF UAB Case Competition Representative, and is currently the President of Upsilon Phi Delta. Sara will be joining the Revenue Cycle and Financial Management Fellowship at Duke University Health System in July 2019. This administrative fellowship will be focused in the Patient Revenue Management Organization, which is a fully integrated, centralized revenue cycle supporting all of Duke Health. Sara is excited for this opportunity to learn more about the complexities of revenue cycle operations management, and how it impacts the health system’s sustainability and clinical operations.
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Kaitlyn Chana, MHA CandidateSince Kaitlyn Chana was knee high, she wanted to be a storyteller; she strives for purpose, brings truth, and helps others. It’s the crux of why Kaitlyn founded a nonprofit charitable organization called Reel Stories. Real People., Inc., in hopes, to tell positive stories of exceptional work being done in communities through video. Kaitlyn is working to obtain her master’s degree in Health Administration at the University of North Florida. She’s working on incorporating narrative storytelling in the health care industry to improve patient care. Her passion for storytelling cultivated in her early years after spending time with children with life-threatening illnesses in hospitals through her previous nonprofit organization, Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness, Inc. As a teenager, she traveled the country speaking about volunteerism as a Congressional Gold Medalist, 2010 Winter Olympic Torchbearer and as a spokesperson for the clothing store, Aeropostale.
2019 CAHME/Dawn Gideon Foundation Scholarship Honoree
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Dr. Hanadi Hamadi, Associate ProfessorDr. Hanadi Hamadi, a University of North Florida associate professor of health administration in the Brooks College of Health, was named a 2019 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, a magazine focusing on matters of access and opportunity for all in higher education. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education first published its Emerging Scholars edition in 2002, which recognizes 15 minority scholars from around the country who are making their mark in the academy through teaching, research and service. She has won several awards, including the 2019 UNF Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award and the UNF Scholars Transforming Academic Research Symposium Award, to name a few, and has numerous peer-reviewed publications that represent her dedication to health care research and education.
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Michael A. Mayo, FACHEMichael A. Mayo, president of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, recently was selected as one of four new Governors representing the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), an international professional society of more than 48,000 health care executives who lead hospitals, health care systems and other healthcare organizations. Mayo will serve a three-year term on the Board of Governors, the authority that oversees ACHE operations and member services. He took office on March 2, 2019, at the ACHE’s 62nd Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago. Leading as Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville hospital president since 2011, Mayo is responsible for the operational and strategic direction of the 489-bed flagship facility of Baptist Health.
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Mei Zhao, Chair and ProfessorDr. Mei Zhao is named as one of the recipients of the 2019 Edgar C. Hayhow Award along with Aaron C. Spaulding, PhD, Nicholas Edwardson, PhD, for their article "Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Performance: Do Organizational and Market Characteristics Matter?" published in the January/February 2018 issue of the Journal of Healthcare Management. The study employs an institutional theory lens to test whether certain organizational structures and market characteristics mediate hospitals' ability to perform across hospital value-based purchasing domains.
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2017-18
This year, the Department of Health Administration (DHA) has accomplished very much in a short period of time. Both the MHA and BHA programs have continued grown. Student outcomes continue to be maintained at a high level. Specifically, our department has achieved the following over the past year:
Student and Program Highlights:
- Five MHA students participated in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) national Case Competition. The UAB Health Administration Case Competition provides graduate students from CAHME-accredited programs an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice with a real-life case.
- 14 students participated in the American College of Health Executives Congress in Chicago with full travel scholarships.
- 18 students participated in the 2017 Study Abroad Program to Hungary and Austria and received full scholarship.
- Student organizations -Health Administration Student Association (HASA) and UPDelta- successfully hosted an end of Year Award and Banquet. About 130 people from community organizations and Programs attended.
- Five students received the Leadership Institute Award, two students received the Health Administration Advisory Board award, and four students received the national Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) Foster G. McGaw Scholarships.
- Almost 100% MHA students were placed for either full time jobs or fellowship/paid residency positions before or right after their graduation
- The department successfully implemented the first Global Health Certificate Program in the Fall of 2017.
- Both the BHA and MHA Programs maintained their certification/Accreditation
- Both graduate and undergraduate students volunteered actively in the community
- Successfully implemented a plan to build close relationship with our alumni
Faculty Highlights:
- Two faculty got promoted (Dr. Hanadi Hamadi to associate professor and Dr. Rob Haley to full professor).
- Dr. Hanadi Hamadi received the UNF Summer Development Grant Award $20,000 and a $500 Technology Grant
- Drs. Rob Haley and Mei Zhao received the UNF transformational Learning Opportunity Award $24,000
- Dr. Cynthia White-Williams received the Health Innovation Research Scholarship Research Grant $5,000.
- Dr. Mei Zhao received the international training grant of $107,638 to implement the Global Health Certificate program.
- Several faculty submitted external grants to federal and local agencies
- In the academic year 2017-2018, the faculty collectively had 11 peer reviewed journal articles published, 25 peer reviewed presentations and many invited presentations
- The chair and faculty successfully raised over $11,000 for the new Department foundation account in less than one year
- Drs. Hanadi Hamadi and Sinyoung Park received the Best Paper Award in Healthcare Management Track at the Business and Health Administration Association, April, 2018
- Dr. Zhao successfully led a delegation composed of BCH leader, Mayo Clinic leaders, and DHA leaders and faculty to China to promote UNF and develop more innovative collaborations in April 2018.