Meet Zoe Krut, a member of the graduating class of 2022 in the Cedars-Sinai Master's Degree in Health Delivery Science (MHDS) program.

Zoe entered the program during a year like no other. A research associate in the Department of Surgery, she's also a lifeguard and a swim instructor, a former EMT and was a pre-med volunteer at the hospital before scoring a research job in the Gazit Lab. Here, she shares her reasons for choosing this exciting education path.

I took my first public health class at Roanoke College, and I just really fell in love with it. I've always wanted to go to medical school, and this class showed me exactly what kind of physician I want to become. I don't want to only think about the one patient who's in front of me: I want to think about how I can improve policies and procedures for all patients in the community.

My time as an EMT also influenced me. Roanoke is a small liberal arts school in rural Southwestern Virginia, and I saw firsthand how the opioid epidemic deeply affected the state. It made me ask myself: "What can the community do? What can doctors do to fix this situation or prevent it?"

I think a lot about those experiences during class.

I heard about the MHDS degree while I was enrolled in the Cedars-Sinai pre-med volunteer program for students planning to go to medical school. As soon as I heard about it, I thought, "This is exactly what I'm looking for. This is perfect." It's basically taking the principles of a master of public health degree and applying them to real medical situations. We're actually learning applicable skills.

I fell in love with Cedars-Sinai when I started shadowing doctors here as a volunteer. I really wanted to be a part of this community, this family. I didn't find any other programs that were similar. Being on this campus with all of these world-renowned physicians and researchers, and this great administrative staff…What better place to get an education in the science of healthcare delivery than at one of the best healthcare delivery systems in the world?

I've joked with my dad that this program basically teaches you all you'd need to know to run a hospital! You learn a little bit about how insurance and reimbursements work. You learn a little bit about data analytics and biostatistics.

And then you also gain great leadership qualities. You get firsthand insight from hospital leaders on how they bring about positive change in the medical field. I feel like I'm learning so much in this program. And I think that's why you have so many people from different fields who are interested in it—you can really take this program anywhere.

I feel like as much as I'm learning from my faculty, I'm also learning a ton from my fellow students. I love that my classmates are such a great resource for both personal and professional questions.

At first, I was a little disappointed to study 100 % remotely, because I love that in-person class environment. But the faculty has done an amazing job at making it accessible since we went remote because of COVID-19, and they're really engaged and inviting. I haven't found that the curriculum or my experience has suffered. I'm the student rep for my class. Every month or so, I get to meet with the faculty and give some feedback or advice on how I think that they can make the program better or more accessible. They're very responsive to that, which is fantastic.

Anybody who's interested in health delivery should absolutely apply. Even if you don't really know yet what you want to do, I think this program will help you figure out a path. We learn about so many different methods of healthcare delivery and ways that healthcare delivery can be improved upon. I think that this program can help guide somebody who's maybe a bit unsure about where they want to go. But I also think that it can reinvigorate a sense of purpose into somebody who's established in their career and is thinking about making a change or wants to keep learning and enhance their current work life.