Internet searching has proven to be very useful to Stephanie Thomas (BS ’99).
When she was looking online for graduate options in Florida related to her undergraduate degree in health information, she found the new Master of Science in Health Informatics and Management Systems (MSHI&MS) program in the College of Business at Florida International University (FIU), her alma mater.
And, when she was searching for scholarship opportunities, she came upon one through the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), aimed at students in the kind of program offered at FIU.
Thanks to her two searches, she is a member of the inaugural group in the MSHI&MS program and the recipient of the 2012 HIMSS Southern Florida Chapter Scholarship. The HIMSS Foundation Scholarship Review Board determined ten winners, selecting applicants “who have achieved academic excellence and have the potential to be future leaders in the healthcare information and management systems industry.”
“Stephanie represents the kind of students we have drawn to the program: intelligent, hardworking and with great potential,” said Neera Bhansali, faculty director. “Since our program is new, and since the HIMSS criteria are so demanding, we are especially proud to have one of our students win the $5,000 scholarship from the South Florida Chapter.”
With “a passion for helping people,” she decided to pursue the degree because she “was not impressed with how information was being exchanged across the board among healthcare professionals.”
Currently completing her internship at OurKids of Miami-Dade/ Monroe, Inc. in the IT department, Thomas expects to graduate in August 2013 and feels that the degree “will help tremendously in a field that has so much to offer—from health information exchange through the use of electronic devices to medical passports, and much more,” she said.
The program also has been significant for “helping me understand the importance of leadership as a manager and is bringing a different perspective in the management of health records,” she said.
Thomas received the award at the 2013 HIMSS Awards Banquet, held during the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition, which ran March-3-7, 2013, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
