Angel Arnaout
She/Her
If you could give advice to your past self when starting MCiM, what would you say?
Unlike most of the other students in the program, I entered the MCiM program much further along in my career. I don’t think I was expecting the program to be so inspiring and personally transformative so far into my career, even after my MBA. I honestly sit though through many classes with my jaw dropped open behind my mask, being completely in awe of what I am learning, mentally stimulated and feeling super fortunate to being taught by the world’s thought leaders in digital innovation and futuristic healthcare. If I could have given myself advice prior to starting the program, I would have said to let go of all constraints, be prepared to be mentally disrupted and immersed in the unique learning environment at Stanford, which seems to be extremely deliberate in training its students to take on the complex problems in society that no one else can or will.
Every quarter you get to meet different faculty members and guest speakers. Has there been an MCiM course and/or guest speaker event that has been most impactful and why?
Every faculty member that taught us so far been someone so globally influential in the field, someone I had previously listened to on prominent webinars or whose NEJM paper I have read and cited multiple times before coming. All have been truly the best in the world. I was most taken though by Professor David Scheinker, who is the inspiration for the next phase of my career. He was able to show me how math, system engineering, machine learning and simulations can help me solve a lot of the frustrations I currently experience as a physician and administrative leader within my healthcare system. Canada, like many universal healthcare systems, has been troubled with access to care issues and long wait times. Modelling the expected amounts of resources required to deliver quality healthcare at the local and national levels, linking that to projected growing incidence of disease, and then using that to redesign care delivery and resource investments can really help our healthcare system stay ahead and be more sustainable.
How do you feel MCiM will benefit your future career trajectory?
The good news is it already has. Prior to coming to the program, I didn’t have high hopes that my career would be as fulfilling as I had originally imagined it to be when I first entered medical school. Physicians currently practice in an environment that is rampant with staff shortages, high rates of burnout and moral injury resulting from our inability to take care of patients in the way that is needed. Now I can see how the unique combination of business model innovation and technology can really achieve the healthcare system that we all want to work in, that can benefit both providers and patients. I am now skilled in leading beyond the usual goal of incremental improvements in healthcare to large scale healthcare system engineering and redesign, digital health ecosystem and infrastructure modernization. This is so exciting!