The application deadline is January 10, 2025, 11:59 PM PST*
Please read the application instructions below prior to clicking on APPLY NOW*
As you complete the online application you will need to submit/upload the following documents when applying to this position.
1. One-page cover letter addressing the following items:
a. Why you are interested in pursuing an internship with UCLA Health System
b. Top three goals for your summer internship, including areas of specific interest
2. Current resume, including both undergraduate and graduate school GPA (if you currently do not have your graduate school GPA, you may submit your resume without it, though will be asked to share at a later stage in the process)
The UCLA Health Graduate Administrative Internship is hands-on and action-oriented, giving you the knowledge and experience necessary to take on the challenges of tomorrow’s healthcare field. You will be exposed to every area of healthcare delivery, attend regular meetings with senior leaders and project sponsors, and be involved in a variety of enterprise-wide projects and initiatives. At the end of the program, you’ll be able to showcase the knowledge and skills you’ve gained by presenting your project to UCLA Health’s senior leadership.
This year, we are excited to offer a variety of internship opportunities within key departments across our system. Individual department leaders will serve as your preceptors and guide your project work. More than that, the entire Administrative Intern cohort will learn with one another through a myriad of shadowing experiences, executive-facilitated discussions, and other community-building events.
Graduate administrative interns incumbent are responsible for performance improvement project management, complex analyses, and development of organizational policies, procedures, practices, and cost-benefit studies on key projects throughout UCLA Health.
Graduate administrative interns will participate in a variety of professional and learning experiences including but not limited to:
· Projects scoped and identified by respective department (serving in a variety of roles)
· Cohort- and team-based projects
· Experiential learning, shadowing, and tours
· Journal clubs and intern-led educational sessions
Beyond contributions to individual projects and collaborating with the preceptor, the incumbent will also contribute to the Administrative Internship cohort’s culture and sense of community through active participation, engagement, and fostering an inclusive and supportive environment.
Below, please find a list of all the available internships at UCLA Health including the Executive Sponsor, Preceptor, Overview, and Potential Projects.
Cancer Services
Executive Sponsor: Emi Kamiya – Clinical Director, Hospital Cancer Services, Nuclear Medicine, & Theragnostic, UCLA Health
Preceptor: Smirthy Ganesan – Program Manager, Cancer Services, UCLA Health
Overview: The Hospital Cancer Services Intern will report to the Clinical Director of Hospital Cancer Services and will have exposure into the services organized under the Cancer Services department, including outpatient care and infusion sites, Nuclear Medicine and Theragnostic, Dialysis and Hemapheresis, and Cell Therapy. The Administrative Intern will be involved in projects across the cancer services enterprise including exposure to process improvement, daily operations, and strategic initiatives.
Potential Projects: Enhance operational efficiency and patient experience by optimizing scheduling workflows in the hospital-based infusion center. Develop an awareness and engagement campaign for National Sickle Cell Awareness Month.
Marketing
Executive Sponsor: Michael Burke – Interim Chief of Marketing, UCLA Health
Preceptor: Marc Fredson – Senior Director, Strategic Marketing
Overview: UCLA Health Strategic Marketing develops and executes strategic marketing and communications plans and programs to achieve measurable gains in the areas of brand position, organizational growth and the customer experience. During this experience, the graduate intern will be exposed to market intelligence and analytics capabilities, acquisition marking approaches, as well as, brand strategy and digital innovation initiatives, and will have the opportunity to complete a substantive project that contributes to the advancement of UCLA Health’s strategic growth goals.
Potential Projects: The graduate intern will complete a strategic marketing planning project for one of UCLA Health’s strategic growth priorities, involving market intelligence, plan development, tactical recommendations, and associated key performance indicators.
Nursing Administration – Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Executive Sponsor: Karen Grimley – Chief Nursing Executive, UCLA Health
Preceptor: Elizabeth Maister – Senior Director, Nursing Business Systems
Overview: The Department of Nursing includes all inpatient units in Santa Monica, Ronald Reagan, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. These include the OR, ED, ambulatory, and interventional areas. The intern will be exposed to projects for the nursing departments such as practice and or process changes, analysis of current structures and recommendations to improve efficiencies, collaboration on data collection relevant to publishing papers, and interaction with nursing senior leadership throughout the engagement.
Potential Projects: The intern will participate in high-level organizational projects.
Nursing Administration – UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center
Executive Sponsor: Karen Grimley – Chief Nursing Executive, UCLA Health
Preceptor: David Bailey – Chief Nursing Officer
Overview: The Department of Nursing includes all inpatient units in Santa Monica, Ronald Reagan, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. These include the OR, ED, ambulatory, and interventional areas. The intern will be exposed to projects for the nursing departments such as practice and or process changes, analysis of current structures and recommendations to improve efficiencies, collaboration on data collection relevant to publishing papers, and interaction with nursing senior leadership throughout the engagement.
Potential Projects: The intern will participate in high-level organizational projects.
Operations
Executive Sponsor: Richard Azar – Chief Operating Officer, UCLA Health
Preceptor: Drew Weil – Senior Director, Hospital Operations & Samantha Gaffney, Manager, Hospital Operations
Overview: The Operations Administrative Intern will report to the Chief Operating Officer, Director of Hospital Operations, and Manager of Hospital Operations. They will serve as a member of the Operations Leadership Team at both Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, as well as Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center. The internship will be project-based and action-oriented while tackling key projects identified by the COO and other senior operational leaders.
Potential Projects: Projects may include patient throughput and flow, labor and productivity, cost-benefit analysis and business plans, staff recognition and development, and other topics relating to operational problem-solving.
Operative Services
Executive Sponsor: Ron Perez – Senior Director, Perioperative and Operative Services
Preceptor: Saurabh Kukreti – Director of Business Development, Perioperative Services, UCLA Health”
Overview: The Operative Services Administrative Intern would work with the Operative Services Triad Leadership (Sr. Director, Medical Director, Surgeon Representative), and other key members of the department. Operative Services at UCLA Health include main operating rooms at multiple medical centers, pre-and post-surgery recovery units, sterile processing departments, ambulatory surgery centers, and business support functions. Projects will expose the Administrative Intern to business planning and analysis, process improvement, market research, and working on cross-functional teams including with the clinical staff.
Potential Projects:
1. Surgical venue optimization: optimize the use of surgical venues (hospital main OR, hospital-based surgery center, ambulatory surgery center, etc.) with consideration of patient safety and quality, financial sustainability, operational efficiency, and develop transition plans
2. Digital health and AI integration: explore opportunities to integrate digital and AI solutions in the perioperative services workflow with the goal of reducing administrative task burden on clinical staff and managers
Patient Access Organization
Executive Sponsor: Jeff Butler – Chief of Operations, Community Clinic Network
Preceptor: Connie Lee – Operations Director, Patient Communication Center
Overview: The mission of the Patient Access Organization (PAO) is to provide timely, convenient, and equitable access for all UCLA Health patients and the communities we serve. UCLA Health runs and operates over 200 outpatient clinics located in Southern California with over 3,000,000 outpatient encounters annually. Within the PAO is the Patient Communication Center where over 4.7 million patients are received annually. The PAO also oversees the optimization of scheduling pathways and technology to help support a high-quality experience for the patient. The summer intern will gain enhanced knowledge of how the PAO supports efficient ambulatory clinic operations and will play an active role in making recommendations for improving the patient’s access journey.
Potential Projects:
1.Develop recommendations on improving the patient’s access journey
2.Develop a process for establishing access policy and standards and evaluating project requests against these standards
Patient Navigation & Business Services
Executive Sponsor: Michael Burke – Chief of Patient Navigation & Business Services
Preceptor: Jana Lim – Director of Global Strategy & Business Services
Overview: Patient Navigation and Business Services exists to transform health by:
· Enhancing access and care coordination to high-quality and top-ranked primary and specialty care at UCLA Health
· Developing impactful initiatives to heighten awareness of and engagement with UCLA Health
In addition to providing advisory services for outside partners, we collaborate with various departments within UCLA Health to provide navigation services to select patient populations:
· International Patients
· Marketing Patient Acquisition Campaigns
· Underserved Populations
· Employer Services
· Community Physician Outreach
· Remote Second Opinion Teleconsultations
· Non-oncology, non-matched clinical trial patients
Potential Projects:
1. Leading the Annual Department Goal Setting Retreat
2. Leading a business plan and/or international market entry strategy initiative
Performance Excellence
Executive Sponsor: Robert Cherry – Chief Medical Quality Officer, UCLA Health
Preceptor: Jerome Crawford – Director, Performance Excellence & Chief of Staff to the Office of CMQO
Overview: The Performance Excellence department at UCLA Health is dedicated to advancing our organization’s mission. We achieve this by fostering a culture of continuous improvement through training and practical experiences, driving Lean process enhancements across UCLA Health, and perpetually refining the UCLA Way. As internal consultants, we undertake organization-wide initiatives at the direction of the senior leadership team, with a focus on enhancing patient care (e.g., reducing readmission rates and length of stay) and optimizing internal operations, including our Active Daily Management system to help sustain efforts and continuously engage our frontline.
Potential Projects: Support institutional goals around improving access/capacity, quality of care, and finance.
Pharmacy
Executive Sponsor: Deepak Sisodiya – Chief Pharmacy Officer
Preceptor: Ghada Ashkar – Associate Chief of Ambulatory Pharmacy
Overview: UCLA Pharmacy teams optimize and standardize medication procurement and management across the continuum of care. They support UCLA Health institutional goals towards improving quality, access to care and financial sustainability. UCLA Pharmacy has many opportunities for growth and new project implementations. These projects will provide rich leadership and strategic planning experiences to our administrative interns.
Potential Projects: Strategic planning for the new pharmacy build in Pacific Concourse – Evaluation of the E-PA and Anticoagulation by pharmacy rollouts and KPI design/update.
UCLA Health Information Technology (UHIT)/Office of Health Informatics and Analytics (OHIA)
Executive Sponsor: Albert Duntugan – Chief Data Officer, UCLA Health
Preceptor: Pallavi Mynampati – Manager, Business Intelligence
Overview: The Office of Health Informatics & Analytics (OHIA) is the data and analytics pillar of the UCLA Health Information Technology organization. Throughout UCLA Health Sciences, OHIA works to advance the use of artificial intelligence in clinical research and patient care with its team of data scientists, health informaticists, machine learning engineers, and data architects. To promote the responsible use of AI, OHIA operates the UCLA Health AI Council, which provides guardrails and recommendations for procuring, developing, and deploying AI solutions. Effective use of AI in health system operations is made possible through OHIA’s cloud-enabled data platform, as well as an OHIA-led health analytics community that provides broad expertise in various disciplines and service lines across the organization.
Potential Projects: Graduate interns are encouraged to participate in projects of their interest on OHIA’s Project roadmap. Projects available can be in areas of analytics delivery, data governance, AI usage, cloud strategy, and more.
ValU Care Redesign
Executive Sponsor: Robert Cherry – Chief Medical Quality Officer, UCLA Health
Preceptor: Eric Kwok – Director, ValU Care Redesign & Quality Improvement Performance Management
Overview: ValU Care Redesign focuses on achieving the triple aim of Increasing outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction, and decreasing cost through PI projects with a focus on redesigning clinical care pathways.
Potential Projects: Syncope Clinical Care Pathway – completing current state, data analysis, and opportunity identification for all or specific parts of this pathway.