Lisa Sheeley
For Lisa Sheeley (pictured left), earning her Master of Health Administration (MHA) was the first step toward making a difference in how people think about growing old. According to Sheeley, aging is an immense privilege, but getting older can also come with a lot of shame as older patients navigate how to work with caretakers and advocate for their needs. Through taking online courses at Purdue, Sheeley was able to learn more about inequities in health care systems, and now that she’s graduated, she hopes to use that knowledge to improve elder care in her community.
“My biggest goal is to change the way people think about places like nursing homes and other spaces dedicated to taking care of the elderly. It’s important that elderly people don’t think of care facilities as a death sentence. Changing people’s perception of needing care later in life can make the whole process of aging a lot less scary.” – Lisa Sheeley
Karrah Teruya
Master of Health Administration alumna Karrah Teruya’s (pictured second from right) journey to graduation day was anything but ordinary. By the time she walked across Purdue’s graduation stage, she had grappled with a cancer diagnosis, taken classes online while undergoing intensive treatment, and been named the Purdue University Department of Public Health’s Graduate Student of the Year. Her journey inspired her classmates and professors alike, and it taught her how critical good health care experiences are for patients. Now, she hopes to use her experience as a patient to improve the experiences of other patients and the health care professionals who work with them.
“With the kind of cancer I have, there are so many unknowns, and the future can seem uncertain. But the program was a very welcome distraction, and it gave me hope for a future I could imagine and work toward.” – Karrah Teruya
Suesan Coleman
Master of Health Administration graduate Suesan Coleman was raised in a military family and grew up to serve in the U.S. Air Force. Her perspective as a veteran gave her a unique window into understanding veterans’ health care needs. It also helped her see just how much work needs to be done to ensure veterans are supported. At Purdue, she was able to focus her studies on veteran health care concerns and forge a path toward making a difference in the lives of veterans in her community.
“At Purdue, I was able to focus on what I was interested in, which was veterans’ health care. Veterans are a particularly vulnerable population, so there’s lots of interesting challenges when it comes to figuring out health care solutions for them. We have to be innovative, forward-thinkers if we want to make an impact.” – Suesan Coleman
Kendra Lenth
For Kendra Lenth, earning her Master of Health Administration was a way to open new doors in her career, but she couldn’t have imagined just how far her MHA would take her. After earning her degree online and making friends with her graduate school cohort, Lenth felt empowered to apply to a prestigious physician’s clinic fellowship at the University of Iowa. After an extensive interview process, she got the fellowship and now has the chance to showcase her knowledge in a big way: by building a new health care clinic from the ground up.
“The clinic fellowship is a great opportunity for me to show what I can do. A few years ago, I never thought I’d be overseeing huge projects and playing such a pivotal role in a health care system, but my master’s has given me that opportunity.” – Kendra Lenth