Anamul Preetom combined his knowledge of healthcare and IT as a student before deciding to pursue a Master’s in Health Informatics from USF Health.
A Bull throughout his academic career, Preetom received his Bachelor’s in Biomedical Science from the University of South Florida while working for the university’s IT department. Originally aspiring to be a medical school student, by the time he’d graduated Preetom wondered if that was still the right path for him. It was a fork in the road for the direction of his life.
“I did not want to make a $200,000 decision without feeling confident about it,” Preetom said. “Because health IT combines my greatest passions and there are a lot of routes I can follow with my career, I decided this was a good option. I am planning on working for a year or two and may even consider pursuing a PhD, medical school, or even an MBA depending on the future.”
His choice for health IT was also based on the impact Preetom believes he can still have on healthcare. After his undergrad, he took time to consider various graduate programs, eventually deciding to stay with USF as the online health informatics program allowed him the freedom to pursue both of his passions and to work toward improving healthcare on a greater scale.
“It’s an exciting time for health IT,” Preetom said. “I personally am a huge believer that blockchain will revolutionize many aspects of the way we store and share data. Especially between larger healthcare organizations, there is a serious problem in regard to lack of interoperability and also information blocking. Blockchain or distributed ledger technology allows for a consortium of organizations to share data in a safe and secure manner without any questioning of the source or provenance of the data.”
Preetom’s technical background, while still important, was not his primary focus when looking at what he would get out of a graduate program. Instead, courses such as e-Healthcare ethics and Managerial Communications were instrumental in developing the way he thinks about his own role in terms of professionalism and ethics.
Preetom also took advantage of his student status this past spring by attending HIMSS19 in Orlando as a program assistant. This year’s show was his first and left him inspired as he looks forward to what comes next in his own work.
“This was my first time at HIMSS and it was one of the best opportunities I’ve had throughout my studies,” Preetom said. “Being able to attend the entire 5-day event exposed me to everything that is up and coming in the Health IT field. Volunteering for one of the largest Health IT conferences in the world, I was surrounded by Health IT executives, doctors, nurses, technologists – you name it. I’ve made many connections who I believe I will be in touch with for life. I was able to sit in for many of the lectures that physicians paid thousands of dollars to hear. I’m already looking forward to next year!”
One fact any attendee walks away from HIMSS having realized is the sheer size and reach of health IT as an industry. For Preetom, the conference put in perspective just how diverse and vital to healthcare this relatively small field is.
In his own work, Preetom is a Software Support Technician for an EHR vendor. He left the conference with a new understanding of his own field having attended sessions on the current status of goals laid out in the 21st Century Cures Act and how Medicare is supporting interoperability efforts.
“There were several sessions that I attended that I have since applied to my own work,” Preetom said. “For example, there were great sessions on Medicare promoting interoperability reporting. These sessions broke down what each measure is looking for and why. They explained what measures are being changed and what the overall vision is. Prior to this, I knew what the software I support was looking for in the measures and have a general idea of why. But since then, I am able to explain to our clients what the purpose of the measure is in detail and why they have to do it in a specific way.”
See how the Master of Science in Health Informatics from USF Health can help to support your career goals.
