What is your educational background? What school(s) have you attended and what degree(s) have you earned/what did you study?
My first course of study was in Art History; I hold a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Chico, and a master’s degree from San Francisco State. My more recent academic pursuits have been in health information and I hold a post-baccalaureate certificate in Healthcare Informatics from Bellevue College and am currently enrolled as a second-year master’s student in the MHIHIM program at UW. I also hold an inactive license to practice massage in Washington State and have been a certified yoga instructor. While part of the MHIHIM program, I also collected Project Management Professional (PMP) and SAS Base Programmer certifications. I’m a lifelong learner and have continually taken classes to support my interests. 

What’s your hometown/where did you grow up? Where are you generally located now?
I grew up the daughter of nomadic hippies, having lived in many locations along the West Coast as a child, but I consider my hometown to be Chico, CA, where I attended three years of high school and earned my first academic degree. I am currently located in Seattle, near the main University campus. Looking forward, I’m exploring the possibility of moving to a smaller community after graduation as I carve out the next chapter of my life.

What were you doing before joining the MHIHIM program?
Just prior to joining the UW MHIHIM program, I had been studying Healthcare Informatics at Bellevue College. The time I spent at Bellevue College was part of a career transition as I considered paths out of the pandemic’s impact on the massage industry. I was an operations manager of a mobile massage team that provided service for workplace wellness programs when the pandemic emerged in the Seattle metro area, and disruption in our client demand occurred due to the move from offices to remote work. 

What inspired you to join the UW MHIHIM program?
Earlier in my career, I had worked in a technology environment in marketing, project management, and analytics roles. When raising my children, I shifted my work towards health and wellness and complementary care as a massage therapist, instructor, and manager. Health Informatics and Health Information Management seem to be a beautiful blending of my past experiences, and it excites me to bring my whole self to an intellectually challenging and emotionally rewarding field. 

What are your next career goals? How will the UW MHIHIM help you get there?
I am currently clarifying my career goals through the capstone and mentoring experiences offered through the MHIHIM program, as well as the impressive breadth of knowledge delivered through our coursework. Once I graduate, I can lean on a great network of professionals who have been introduced to my cohort and the support of the faculty and staff guiding us all along. 

Do you work or have another role outside of being a student?
I am a parent of two teenagers, one of whom just began her college journey last year and one of whom is a junior in high school. I am also an active volunteer in the community, with the bulk of my volunteer time going to the Ryther Child Center League as a board member tasked with digital fundraising support. I also have two very sweet cats and enjoy spending time in my garden and the arts. 

Hello, my name is Nikita Madan! I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but recently moved to Chicago, Illinois. I hold a B.S. in Public Health from San José State University with a minor in Human Systems Integration. I currently work as a Healthcare Economics Consultant at UnitedHealthcare, on the Utah-Nevada-Idaho sector Health Informatics team. 

Prior to joining the UW MHIHIM program, I worked for two healthcare startups as a Data Steward and Associate Product Manager with a focus on data visualization and BI. I am deeply interested in the fields of health informatics and health information management, and I joined this program to gain expert knowledge of the industry and meet fellow healthcare professionals. 

The UW MHIHIM program has helped me learn new business-oriented and technical skills in several areas of accessing, handling, and utilizing healthcare information. The knowledge I have gained is highly transferable to my field of work, and I am grateful for my incredibly supportive professors and cohort who have made my experience as a graduate student very rewarding!

Moving forward, I hope to grow in the field of Health Informatics, and potentially contribute to research and innovation of new data-driven technologies in hospitals and healthcare systems. Outside of my work and studies, I enjoy running, hiking, traveling, and photography! I am always happy to answer any questions about the program or my experience, so please feel free to reach out.

What is your educational background? What school(s) have you attended and what degree(s) have you earned/what did you study?
I hold a bachelor’s degree in health studies from UW Bothell. Currently, I’m pursuing a master’s in health informatics and health information management (MHIHIM) at the University of Washington, expecting to graduate in June 2025.

What inspired you to join the UW MHIHIM program?
My interest in improving healthcare operations for better patient outcomes and experiences led me to pursue the MHIHIM program. I want to use technology to support health equity, particularly for minority populations, and contribute to advancing healthcare systems.

Do you work or have another role outside of being a student? (being a parent, part-time work, school athletics, anything else you do in addition to being a student that you’d like to share?)
I currently work part time at Overlake Medical Center as a Patient Service Representative. 

Hi, I’m Joyce Mwangi. I came to the United States from Kenya in 2012. In 2015, I graduated from the University of Washington (US) with a master’s degree in cultural studies.

I’m a records analyst with UW Medicine’s Enterprise Records and Health Information department. Before moving to the United States, I worked with local and international nonprofits in Kenya, and my last position was country manager for health and protection projects with Save the Children.

The health care sector is rapidly shifting globally due to the advance in health information technology, and this is affecting the way we work. I joined the UW Master of Health Informatics and Health Information Management (MHIHIM) program because it offers advanced knowledge and understanding of health informatics, information governance, analytics, and electronic records management, which will help me advance my career goals.

I enjoy being in the Master of HIHIM program. My cohort is incredibly supportive, and we learn from everyone’s experience. The faculty and staff are supportive, accessible, and provide professional development resources. I’m excited to be a student ambassador and hope to support new students. I encourage you to always reach out with any questions that would help you adjust easily to the Master of HIHIM program.