My name is Samantha Tian, and I am an MBA candidate at Seattle University. I believe that there is a critical disconnect between our healthcare system and the patients it serves.

 

For most of my life, I was committed to becoming a physician. I believed it was the clearest way to improve patient lives, which I believed that to be my purpose. I dedicated my life to become a doctor. Graduating at 20 with both an associate degree and a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology from the University of Washington, I was on a fast track to medical school.

 

That trajectory changed when an autoimmune diagnosis shifted my role from prospective provider to active patient within the healthcare system. Experiencing this system firsthand was jarring, and I realized I could no longer see myself contributing to a model that often fails the very people it is meant to serve. For a time, I felt unmoored.

 

During a transformative gap year, however, I began to see a different path; one where I could bring my scientific training, lived experience, and empathy into the world of business and operations. Now, as an MBA candidate, I am focused on bridging the gap between medicine and management, applying analytical rigor, operational thinking, and human-centered strategy to help build a healthcare system worthy of the patients it serves.