Bijal L
- Research Program Mentor

MHA at University of Southern California (USC)

Expertise

Public Health, Anthropology, Global Health, Gerontology, Business, Healthcare Administration, Product Development

Bio

My background centers around the intersection of public health, anthropology, gerontology, and healthcare administration/management. Through my undergraduate degree at UCLA in Anthropology with minors in both Gerontology and Global Health, I was able to gain a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of social determinants of health across a lifespan. Through my graduate degree in healthcare administration USC, I've focused my studies on the US healthcare system and solving complex problems related to the healthcare industry. I'm specifically passionate about the pursuit of making healthcare more accessible for all and improving the quality of care for older adults. I'm now a Project Manager at Optum, working on the Digital Transformation team. Beyond my interest in healthcare, I'm a big animal lover and love to travel. My goal is to visit 100 countries by the time I'm 65 :)

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Tackling Social Determinants of Health in Your Community

Investigate social determinants of health in your community, city, state, or nation and tackle them through policy change or strategic partnerships. In projects such as these, you are proposing evidence-based solutions to tackle the most pressing health challenges that are impacting your community. Through a case studies approach, you will follow a traditional consulting engagement/ research framework including conducting literature reviews, competitor analysis, feasibility studies, stakeholder interviews, survey development/distribution, etc..

Hospital Strategy

Develop a convincing presentation to key stakeholders summarizing the position of a hospital of your choosing, describing why it is important to the community, and what its strategies should be moving forward. Analysis will include: - Look at market share and patient demographics - Look at key statistics in comparison to other hospitals in service area (inpatient discharges, inpatient days, average daily census, occupancy, emergency visits, etc)

Take a Closer Look at Brain Disorders & Aging

Take a closer look at diseases that are commonly associated with aging such as Parkinsons & Alzheimers. Understand how these diseases: - Biological mechanisms - Symptoms - Onset and progression - Causes - Treatments - Outlook - Prevention Through this research you can create a research paper, YouTube video, podcast, informative guide, etc.