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From Pre-Med To Health Policy Analyst

October 5, 2001

Cecilia Echeverria started out pre-med, and ten years later, as a Health Policy Analyst, she has an impact on the well-being of large segments of the California populace.

Opportunities in non-physician areas of health care will continue to grow, and Cecilia has plenty of advice for students interested in working in health policy. Cecilia currently works for a non-profit foundation think tank - The California Health Care Foundation's Medi-Cal Policy Institute.

Throughout her career, Cecilia has focused on the impact legislation has on health services for special populations and on discovering how best to help these populations (and those who work with them) prepare for the implementation of new laws. She's one of over 25 health care professionals who will be participating in the upcoming Health Careers Information Night.

From Pre-Med to Social Welfare

Cecilia entered Cal wanting to go into medicine. She was a Bio major for her first two years. After a volunteer stint in an emergency room, she realized that hands-on medicine was not in her future. She still wanted to help people and work in the area of health care, but like many students, she didn't know how she could do so without the MD. She found her passion studying social welfare with a concentration in sociology. This led to an interest in the sociology of health and illness and taking courses in public policy.

The Drawbacks of Going Straight Through

As a senior, she applied to the joint Masters in Public Policy and Masters in Public Health program at Cal. She made the choice largely because she was comfortable being a student, and looking back she wishes she had worked for a couple of years before grad school. At the Goldman School of Public Policy, the average age of students is 27 and many continue to work professionally while in school. Having professional experience provides perspective, and gives the rigorous coursework more meaning.

Fortunately for her, both programs required internships. Her internships provided opportunities to get practical experience working on policy projects for real clients.

Presidential Management Internship (PMI)

Following graduate school, Cecilia entered the two-year, post-graduate Presidential Management Internship program. She worked for the Congressional Research Service and wrote health policy issue briefs for Congress. Following her two years in DC, she worked for the California Health Care Foundation's Medicare Project and has since begun work in the Foundation's Medi-Cal Policy Institute where she works on issues related to Medicare and Medi-Cal.

What Skills Do You Need?

The most important skill is the ability to write.
Research skills. Hone your ability to ask questions and find information.
The ability to work with different groups and build consensus among stakeholders.

Recommendations

Get Experience: You don't need to look for a job formulating policy. A much more likely start for a new grad is a job as an administrative assistant or junior researcher. Exceed your employer's expectations, and you will be given more challenging assignments. Get experience in Sacramento and DC with these programs: Cal in the Capital and Cal in Sacramento .
Spend a summer or semester in Sacramento or DC: Find an internship where you can see firsthand how policy is formulated.
Take Econ as an undergraduate: The grade doesn't matter, so you can take it P/F, but you need the basic knowledge. A class in finance can be helpful, all public programs need public or private financing.
Stats: You will need to know statistics, you'll be more marketable if you know it! Learn Excel and other statistical packages.

Why Should Students Pursue Health Policy?

Your skills are widely transferable. There are lots of players in health care today. You can work in private industry, government agencies, or non-profits. All of them value the kinds of skills she possesses: HMOs and pharmaceutical companies which need to track health legislation; legislative bodies that make laws and the government agencies charged with implementing them; academic research institutes and non-profit think tanks that research, comment, and make recommendations on proposed legislation.