Amy Romano, Yale School of Management
Why are you interested in healthcare?
I have always been involved in healthcare. After a few years in public health, I went back to school to become a nurse-midwife. I practiced for about 5 years while also writing and teaching, and then joined a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization working with stakeholders across the healthcare system to improve maternity care quality and value. It was through this position that I became interested in the business of healthcare, and recognized the need for excellent leadership to transform our healthcare system. There is such an immense opportunity to shape how healthcare is delivered and experienced in the current environment. It’s a very exciting time to be in the field.
How did you get to business school?
I was researching social entrepreneurship and thinking about how this model could be applied to healthcare to make care more patient centered, address disparities in access and outcomes, and foster care model innovation. Yale School of Management came on my radar during that research, and I learned that they had a loan repayment program for graduates who work in benefit corporations, as well as nonprofit and public sector jobs. I live close to Yale and have graduated from and taught in their nurse-midwifery program, but I hadn’t paid much attention to the School of Management. I decided to go to the information session, mostly out of curiosity. I left that session completely hooked on the idea of getting my MBA.
Why did you choose to attend the Yale School of Management?
I applied to the MBA for Executives Leadership in Healthcare program because I liked the idea that all of my classmates would work in healthcare fields and bring their different perspectives to the classroom, whether they worked in health IT, hospital administration, clinical care, health plans, or pharma. I also love Yale’s focus on “educating leaders for business and society.” Although Yale has evolved considerably from its nonprofit roots, the curriculum and culture are still infused with a sense of social justice.
What are you involved in now on campus?
As part of the MBA for Executives program, there are not as many opportunities to get involved in campus activities, because we are only on campus every other weekend and most of my classmates live far from New Haven. But I am participating in the Global Network Week this Spring, traveling to Ghana with my classmates and students from other universities for a program on Contemporary Management Issues in Africa. I have also been working with a faculty mentor, Howie Forman, on an independent study project focused on care model innovation and payment reform in maternity care, and have been blogging about it on my company blog and on the Yale community blog.