The Ivey Health Sector Club caters to students with an interest in the health care industry, regardless of their background and experiences. The main objectives of the Health Sector club are to provide awareness of employment opportunities within the health care industry and to enable members to network with industry leaders.
Some key initiatives hosted by the Health Sector club are as follows:
In June, the Health Sector Club attended the Canadian College of Health Leaders Fireside Chat with Deb Matthews, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. During the Fireside Chat, Matthews took the audience through the provincial government’s Ontario Action Plan for Health Care, outlining three key priorities that the Ministry intends on focusing on, which include: Keeping Ontario Healthy, Faster Access to Stronger Family Health Care, Right Care, Right Time, Right Place. As young, future health leaders, Ivey’s Health Sector Club had a strong presence in a room full of experienced health leaders. Members asked Matthews challenging and intelligent questions that gave others in the room a different perspective and changed the direction of the discussion regarding Ontario’s future health care plans.
In July, the Health Sector club hosted a personalized tour of the London Health Sciences Center, led by Dr. McLeod, the Chief of Medical Staff and Director of Quality at the LHSC. Dr. McLeod took an ‘operations’ approach to the tour by taking attendees through the steps a patient experiences from start-to-finish and outlining and all the back-office support involved in ensuring the operating rooms function in a seemingly automated fashion. Attendees were given a detailed look into the state-of-the-art operating facilities and technologies and were able to briefly witness a live surgery. The tour, combined with Dr. McLeod’s perspectives, provided a powerful insight into both the macro and micro level challenges faced by the public hospital sector in Ontario.
Most recently, the Health Sector club hosted a networking dinner in Toronto where students interested in a career focused in the health sector industry met with alumni from ZS Associates, IMS Brogan and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) in an intimate dinner setting to gain more clarity into the roles and firms in time for recruiting season. The overwhelmingly positive feedback from the students and alumni indicated that the event had been successful in building relationships between the students and alumni.
Upcoming events planned by the Health Sector club include additional networking dinners with industry leaders, keynote speaker series, knowledge sharing sessions and collaboration with the ICHI to attend the Ivey Global Health Conference on Nov26th, 2013. The Health Sector club also collaborates with the Ivey International Center for Health Innovation to find industry mentors for members catering to the members’ specific set of goals and interests.
About Ashley and Priyanka:
Ashley graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry. Prior to joining Ivey Business School’s MBA program, Ashley worked in a New Ventures role, for three years, with Closing the Gap Healthcare Group, a privately-owned, community healthcare company. At Ivey, Ashley is the co-president of the Health Sector Club. She is extremely passionate about finding innovative ways to enhance the current health system and plans on pursuing a career within the sector upon graduation.
Priyanka is the Co-President of the Ivey MBA Health Sector Club. Priyanka holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Biotechnology, both from the University of Toronto. Priyanka has 6 years’ work experience in the pharma/biotech industries both within Canada and internationally. Prior to coming to Ivey, Priyanka was working for Astra Zeneca’s Medimmune branch as an Associate Scientist, leading the formulation development of an oncology drug. Post-graduation, Priyanka hopes to pursue a career that will enable her to leverage her skills, her passion for the industry and her curiosity to solve real world challenges.