Kori Thomas, M.H.A
Year of Fellowship: 2022 – 2023
Background: Kori attended the University of Iowa where she earned 2 Bachelor of Arts degrees in Health and Human Physiology and Global Health Studies. Continuing her education at the University of Iowa, Kori obtained her Master of Health Administration. During her time as a graduate student, she served as a graduate assistant in Carver College of Medicine’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, along with being a Quadriplegic caretaker.
Focus During Fellowship: During her fellowship, Kori participated in a plethora of different college wide initiatives, as well as rotating in different clinical departments. She began her fellowship within Clinical Affairs, where she oversaw the internal business process for physician recruitment of the Baylor Medicine Practice. Throughout her fellowship she transitioned to different departments, such as Patient Business Services, Department of Medicine, and Orthopedic Surgery, where she assisted in service line growth and financial opportunities. In addition, Kori and her co-fellow co-managed the Baylor Medicine committee meetings, where fellows gain exposure to high level leaders across the college.
Current Status: Kori is currently serving as a Clinical Operations Associate within the Department of Medicine Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. She is the practice manager for all clinical operations within the sub section of Geriatrics. Kori is responsible for all Geriatric faculty and clinical staff that support both inpatient and outpatient Geriatric locations.
Jose Antonio Negrete, M.P.H.
Year of Fellowship: 2021-2022
Background: Jose attended the University of Texas at Austin where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy and Management. Following graduation, Jose worked full-time as a financial services representative in Patient Access at Dell Medical School in Austin, Texas. He did this year for a year before moving to Houston to obtained his Master of Public Health in Healthcare Management degree at The University of Texas Health Science Center.
Focus During Fellowship: During his fellowship, Jose completed project work with Clinical Affairs, the Department of Surgery, Patient Business Services, Ambulatory Operations, Incident Command Center, Quality & Safety, Orthopedic Surgery, and Physician Compensation. Jose also had the opportunity to oversee the selection and onboarding of a major advanced care planning provider to be integrated with the Baylor EMR. This project work along with co-managing the Baylor Medicine committee meetings with his co-fellow Mickayla resulted in a well-rounded experience.
Current Status: Jose is currently a business strategy and development associate within Clinical Affairs and the Office of Academic Integration. Jose supports affiliate operations and oversees the operations and strategic planning for Baylor’s Academic Integration efforts with Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.
Deborah Boone, M.P.H.
Year of Fellowship: 2020-2021
Background: Deborah attended Hampton University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Following graduation, Deborah worked in New York City for a large financial service organization. She obtained her Master of Public Health in Healthcare Management at The University of Texas Health Science Center.
Focus During fellowship: During her fellowship, Deborah had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects with several departments and leaders at Baylor College of Medicine. She completed rotations and projects with Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Orthotics & Prosthetics, Patient Business Services, Women’s Health OB/GYN, Baylor Improvement Group, Department of Pathology and Immunology, and Ambulatory Operations.
Current Status: Deborah is currently a senior manager with the Department of Neurology. She manages a variety of business operations, finance, human resource functions, and strategic initiatives for the department. Previously, Deborah worked for the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy as the section administrator for Clinical Ethics and Education.
Samson Oyediran, M.B.A.
Year of Fellowship: 2020-2021
Background: Samson attended Tennessee State University where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Health Science with a concentration in Health Administration. Following graduation, Samson continued his education at the University of St. Francis in Chicago where he received his MBA in Healthcare Management.
Focus During fellowship: During his fellowship, Samson had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects with several departments and leaders at Baylor College of Medicine. He completed rotations and projects with Urology and Orthopedics, Family Medicine, Quality and Safety Committee, Executive Committee, Patient Business Services, Human and Genetics Research, War Room Marketing Committee, and helped build a clinical presence in the Sugarland area. Samson orchestrated a clinical presence clinical presence within the Sugarland, Texas area by bringing service line administrators and clinical leaders together (Orthopedic Surgery and Medicine). He also gathered and analyzed department data to produce financial proforma for executive leadership approval which led to the adoption of a multitiered clinical plan for the West Houston market.
Current Status: Samson is currently working as a Business Strategy & Development Associate. In this role, he is responsible for implementing business development plans and programs to drive new and grow existing revenue streams. Samson is also responsible for managing the revenue cycle and providing revenue enhancing opportunism for multiple medical and surgical specialties.
Arun Ponnambalam, J.D., M.H.A., M.B.A.
Year of Fellowship: 2016-2017
Background: Arun attended the University of Florida where he received a bachelor’s degree in history and then moved on to the University of Miami where he obtained his J.D. After a few years working in healthcare, Arun returned to school at the University of Houston-Clear Lake where he graduated with a dual Master in Health Administration and Business Administration in 2015.
Focus During Fellowship: Arun’s experience during the fellowship was well-rounded and encompassed a variety of different areas including education, Office of the General Counsel, Clinical Operations, Communications, Business Development, Research, Compliance, The Department of Surgery, The Baylor Improvement Group, and The Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy. One of Arun’s primary projects was an organization-wide physical security assessment that was performed with both General Counsel and Compliance departments.
Current Status: Arun is currently a manager in business operations for the Department of Pediatrics at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine in the Section of Hematology and Oncology. His subsection is an international group called Global H.O.P.E that has a mission of building long-term capacity to treat and improve the prognosis for children with cancer and blood disorders in sub-Saharan Africa. Arun oversees the Baylor College of Medicine side of financial management, grant administration and human resources for Global HOPE both locally and abroad in Africa.
Megan Bogany, M.H.S.M.
Year of Fellowship: 2013-2014
Background: Megan attended the University of Chicago, where she received a bachelor’s in Comparative Human Development. She received her Master of Science in Health Systems Management from Rush University in 2013.
Focus During Fellowship: During her fellowship Megan explored a variety of areas across the institution including Neurosurgery, the Medical Genetics Laboratories, IT, Finance, and Business Development. Her longitudinal project focused on supporting efforts to create the Baylor's Radiation Oncology Department. She also spent time working on several process improvement projects for clinical and non-clinical areas.
Current Status: After her fellowship, Megan transitioned to business development where she worked as a project manager to provide data analysis support to the Baylor Clinical Affairs leadership team. As a part of her role, she was asked to assist the Department of Radiation Oncology as they began to try to stand up their FGP/Baylor Medicine Clinic in 2016.
Megan is currently the administrator for the Department of Radiation Oncology. In this role, she oversees the clinical, education and research operations for the department. This includes managing all finance and human resource functions. She is responsible for maintaining the department relationship with Harris Health, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, and other affiliates, and implementing and managing new agreements and partnerships with them.
Aditi Sheth, M.H.A., M.B.A.
Year of Fellowship: 2012-2013
Background: Aditi attended The University of Texas at Austin, where she received a BBA degree in finance and minors in biology and Spanish. She received her MHA/MBA (Master of Healthcare Administration and MBA in Healthcare Administration) from the University of Houston - Clear Lake in 2012.
Focus During Fellowship: Aditi explored a variety of areas across the institution that allowed her to gain experience in working with clinical and research departments and leaders, finance, human resources, and Baylor affiliates. During her fellowship, Aditi was able to lead a project for the Baylor Department of Psychiatry, which focused on using new and innovative methods to reach out to patients in the rural community. Her longitudinal project involved managing significant areas of the licensure and accreditation process for the Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.
Current Status: After her fellowship, Aditi joined the Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Relations as a project manager to direct the high-level donor financial and impact reporting process. She was promoted to business manager and administrator for the department in January 2016. Her role allowed her to work with leadership, finance, HR, and other administrators to develop new strategies and practices that focused on efficiency and growth. In March 2018, Aditi moved over to the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is now the senior manager of business operations and oversees the human resources and accounting functions for the department. She manages a variety of business operations and process improvement initiatives for education, research and healthcare.
Erin Cannon, Ph.D., M.P.A.
Year of Fellowship: 2009-2010
Background: Erin attended Texas A&M University and received a bachelor's in sociology and a master's in public administration. After finishing her administrative fellowship, Erin completed doctoral studies in healthcare management biostatistics, graduating in 2016 with a doctorate.
Focus During Fellowship: Erin took advantage of the flexibility within Baylor’s fellowship program to structure her year-long rotations around departmental and clinical operations. Erin had the opportunity to serve as the lead on a cost containment project for the Department of Ambulatory Operations and conducted an examination of historical practices regarding record retention and storage. Another project where Erin felt she made a significant contribution is when she compiled and analyzed existing insurance revenue cycle data for the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. In fact, she was recruited into the department by Sean Kim, another former Baylor fellow, as a project manager in the spring of 2010.
Current Status: Erin is currently the senior director of clinical business services in the Patient Business Services department at Baylor. Her main responsibilities revolve around managing affiliate hospital and clinical departmental communication on revenue cycle metrics and matters, special projects, offsite clinical revenue cycle start-up, and many other duties. On top of her revenue cycle responsibilities, Erin is also one of the program preceptors for the Administrative Fellowship Program.
