By Kimberly Dinh—In September 2018, I had the opportunity to tour Houston Texas Methodist Institute through CSB\u2019s Celts Exploring Businesses program. Along with a group of CSB students, I got to meet individuals from highly respected positions in the medical field and have a sneak peak of HMRI\u2019s operations that aim at improving patient care through innovative research.<\/p>\n
MITIE<\/strong><\/p>\n I am currently working for CSB as a social media team member majoring in business with a minor in biology, and so this tour was especially inspiring to my peers and I who are learning about how business and the health care industry interlink. As part of the tour we got to visit MITIE (Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation, and Education), this is where labs, workspace, and machines that researchers utilize, relentlessly work together to discover innovative ways to enhance the way health care is distributed. Although HMRI\u2019s equipment and machinery are highly technologically advanced, they continue to improve upon previous designs to enhance the learning experience of their interns and medical students.<\/p>\n We meet a lead researcher who shared with us the strategy his team is studying to target cancer cells. During this time, we also witnessed the meticulous care that employees of HMRI implement to ensure our safety by providing shoe covers as we entered their lab areas. At first glance the design of the HMRI\u2019s building was constructed with aesthetic beauty in mind, but its layout was also done with the purpose to best protect and preserve years\u2019 worth of research data in the case of any natural disaster.<\/p>\n HMRI EXPERTS<\/strong><\/p>\n The most valuable part of our tour was the career panel where we got to speak with HMRI employees who came from business backgrounds. These experts with experience from both industries strongly encouraged us to pursue careers in the health industry as business students. They explained to us how, although the primary focus of a hospital is patient care, the operations of a hospital still need to be managed and improved upon as a business.<\/p>\n We were able to learn about career paths available within the medical field for business majors, which is contrary to the myth that health care careers are limited to doctors and nurses. There are accountants, data analytics, and financial managers that all come together to serve a role in the success of a hospital achieving its primary goal of improving patient care. One of our presenting speakers, Dr. Amy Wright, coordinates a partnership with CSB for the Master in Clinical Translation Management program, further emphasizing the compatibility between STEM and business careers.<\/p>\n