Profiles - Students
Juliette Ye Song
 "Medical informatics directly benefits
patient care. It not only makes access to information more
convenient and efficient — it can save lives. It's
very exciting to be involved in that."
Juliette Ye Song has experienced the MMI program from several
perspectives and likes what she sees in each. The program
offers two introductory tracks — for
those with clinical or IT backgrounds — but Song had neither background
and followed both tracks. She is also familiar with both the program's
on-campus and online versions. After completing her master's degree on
campus she re-experienced the program online as a teaching assistant.
A Northwestern graduate who majored in psychology and Asian
and Middle East studies, Song was working as a health care
research coordinator when she entered the MMI program. "I
wasn't sure what professional path I wanted to take," says
Song, "but I wanted to stay involved with hospitals." In
the course Medical Technology Acquisition and Assessment,
Song learned how health care can benefit from the efficiencies
of other industries. A database fundamentals class deepened
her understanding of her work. "In my thesis I applied
what I learned to my work," says Song. In it she examined
ways to make it easier for clinical researchers to identify
potential research participants without violating Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-protected data.
On campus Song enjoyed the mentorship she received from
faculty and was impressed by the high caliber of her classmates.
As a TA she discovered a different but equally stimulating
cohort of students. "Many of them are high-level medical
informatics professionals from across the country who share
what is happening nationally," says Song. Whether focusing
on the medical or technical side, online or in person, Song
sees enormous value in the program: "No industry is
as pervasive as health care — you can go anywhere."
Shelley Myers
 A registered nurse with a bachelor's degree in physiology, Shelley
Myers worked for two years as a cardiac nurse before transitioning
into marketing and consulting on health care information systems.
She is currently an enterprise partnership manager for Sg2, an
international health care research, consulting, and education
company headquartered in Skokie, Illinois.
Q: When did you become interested in medical informatics?
SM: It shaped my career
from the beginning. I went to nursing school with the idea
of going into nursing informatics, and my nursing degree
opened the door to consulting. Now I have a broader interest
in health care informatics. It's an evolving - and fascinating
- field.
Q: Why did you choose the MMI program?
SM: Northwestern has
a great medical school and a robust informatics department
in its hospital, so I knew the program would be outstanding.
I have a clinical background and a lot of experience with
information technology, but I wanted to learn more. A formal
education gives you an understanding you can't acquire
on the job from vendors.
Q: What are your classmates like?
SM: There's a mix of
students with a range of ages - one class included a physician,
several nurses and IT professionals, and a statistician.
We stay in touch outside of class through an online forum.
I like to network with other students - I learn so much
from them, and it opens opportunities for future consulting.
Q: Does the networking extend beyond the MMI program?
SM: Yes. My company recruits
from Northwestern, and I wanted our executives to understand
the program. I'm arranging with SCS to invite speakers
from Sg2 to give guest lectures in the MMI program - it's
a perfect fit.
Q: What's next for you?
SM: I want to leverage
my background and apply what I've learned in the program
by creating a clinical information strategy forum at my
company to connect organizations working to achieve similar
health information strategy goals.
Scott Kerth
The world has served as Scott Kerth’s classroom and office.
His undergraduate experience included study in Australia; he
earned two MBAs, one in Belgium and another at the University
of Chicago. Working in business development he lived and traveled
throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He met his wife in
Prague; their son was born in Singapore and their daughter in
Barcelona. In 2002 Kerth returned to the Chicago area, where
he works in commercial real estate.
Q: Why did you choose the medical informatics
program?
SK: I believe in the lifelong
pursuit of education. My background is in information systems
for business, but I’ve
always been interested in medicine — my dad’s
a doctor. The MMI is about information systems for health
care, so it wraps up all my interests. If this program
hadn’t existed, I might have considered a master’s
in public health — I still might do that — but
the MMI matched my skills better.
Q: What have you learned about
the medical side?
SK: The class on clinical
thinking gave me an understanding of how the medical profession
approaches problems. We learned
about how a diagnosis is made and about the thinking process
that leads to it. In fact, when I finish the program I’m
interested in using IT tools like data mining to assist
with clinical decision-making to improve patient care and
research. I’d love to work in a hospital in operations.
Q: What do you like most about
SCS?
SK: I’ve studied
all over the world, and my professors at SCS are second
to none in terms of their knowledge and
ability to engage the class. It says a lot about the quality
of the program that they can attract such talented faculty.
My classmates are great, too — an interesting, multicultural
mix of people that includes hospital executives and medical
professionals.
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