Statement of Purpose
This is in my top 3 favorite things I feel like I've ever written, so I thought I'd share. It's my personal essay I submitted to the master's program I just got accepted into. Though, I wrote this in February of 2018, so the most fun team in the NBA right now in my opinion is Milwaukee.
During my time as a research fellow at the Partnership for Public Service, I realized the power of both qualitative and quantitative research. One cannot exist without the other. In the Partnership’s annual Best Places to Work rankings, NASA was consistently at or near the top of the rankings. The quantitative data can tell you how efficient the organization is relative to others and how much NASA accomplishes on a year-to-year basis. The qualitative data was acquired through in-person focus groups and interviews, and told the story of why NASA experiences a high employee retention rate and enthusiasm for work on their projects.
Around the same time, I started seeing the NBA in a new light. The basketball league had been gravitating towards a more data analytical approach since the mid-to-late 2000s with the Houston Rockets leading the way. General Manager Daryl Morey revamped the entire organization with the acquisition of Guard James Harden and Center Dwight Howard. On the court, the team would forego shooting midrange jumpers, or shots around 15-20 feet away from the rim, and instead moved towards only taking efficient shots like corner threes and layups or dunks. They opted for corner threes instead of anywhere else because the sides of the court are closer to the hoop than the rest of the arc.
Off the court, the Rockets were making many organizational decisions solely based on data analytics. The health or motions of players were monitored as soon as they entered the building. Even as they left for the night, team doctors were telling them to sleep as much as they could. Players like Luc Richard Mbah a Moute have reported sleeping 12 hours a night if their schedule permits. Minutes were managed each game with players sitting out for games during the regular season so they could perform at an optimal level in the playoffs. When Sam Hinkie left the Rockets and was brought on as the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, he was bold enough to sit rookies out for months and years at a time until they were completely healthy by the organization’s standards because he was trying to build a championship caliber team at least five years down the road and saw the bigger picture. The official slogan came to be known as “Trust the process.” The Houston Rockets are now the second-best team in the NBA after the Golden State Warriors. The Philadelphia 76ers may be a year or two away from being of championship caliber, but they are easily the most fun team to watch in the NBA and have a talented, young core that will be a threat for years to come.
What I’ve come to learn from both the Partnership for Public Service and the NBA is that data analytics are bigger than ever. The organizations that own and embrace data are the ones giving themselves the highest probability to succeed. There is still the need for humans to make executive decisions, but presenting a person with significant, objective data can help make those decisions much easier to make. If the analytical research is properly done and the right systems are in place, our societies will be better for it. Not only will organizations be pleased in the short term, but they will bear the fruits in the future because the data will help us focus on critical issues. In health care, that could be the difference between many people suffering compared to many people living healthy, prosperous lives. People have studied medicine and health care for centuries. As our knowledge of health care and data analytics grows stronger, we will be able to improve our resources and be targeted in our approach to solving the biggest issues facing us in medicine.
I’ve been interested in UAB’s Master of Science in Health Informatics program for almost a year now. In January of 2017, I met with Dr. Bunyamin Ozaydin, PhD in his office to discuss the program and he suggested I apply. I was initially hesitant at the time because I wanted to get more work experience in information technology first so transitioning into health care IT would be easier. A year later, I’m halfway through my Master of Science in Management Information Systems program at UAB and I have a full-time job as an IT project manager-ENT at UAB’s central IT office. I have come to love what I do. I am working on pursuing certifications like the PMP and CISSP, and taking the necessary steps to become the best IT project manager I can be.
I believe that the MSHI program would help me continue to grow in my career. I would love to pursue the health informatics program and data analytics track at UAB because I’ve completed an undergraduate degree, worked on a master’s program, and worked full time at UAB. My eventual goal is to give back to the university that has given so much to me. Even if I’m only a small part of the bigger picture, I’d be satisfied going to work every day knowing that what I learned in the MSHI program gave me the foundation to make UAB’s health system more efficient in a health care IT leadership role.