Working as a Data Architect for Nashville-based Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) convinced Tori Samples that “many of our health care problems today are not clinical problems but business problems.” Based on that insight, she abandoned an earlier idea of a clinical career and decided to focus on the business side of health care, where she believed she could have a greater scope of impact.

“Good business practices can facilitate better clinical outcomes, patient experiences, and the recruitment and retention of the best providers,” Tori says. “I want to be on the leading edge of health care delivery.”

She is looking to an MBA in Health Care from Vanderbilt to help her get there.

“In my health care classes,” she says, “I’m able to dive deep into something I’m extremely passionate about with people who speak the same language.” During Vanderbilt’s distinctive Health Care Immersion Week, Tori and her colleagues spent many hours in Vanderbilt University Medical Center shadowing clinicians on the patient floors and in the ER and OR. “We heard from 30 health care leaders in five days and visited various sites of care to understand the health care ecosystem and integration along a patient’s journey,” she says. “No other MBA program in the country could have offered a similar experience.”

Tori also has consulted for a Vanderbilt clinic run by medical students for uninsured patients and is a student fellow for Vanderbilt’s Center for Health Care Market Innovation.

With guidance from the Career Management staff, Tori decided to focus on working directly for a health care provider rather than a health care management consulting firm. During her first year, she landed an internship position with TriStar Centennial Medical Center’s Administration team (owned by HCA) — and was well on her way to her goals.

Fun Fact: Tori has lived in Tanzania (working in HIV/AIDS clinics) and in Switzerland (at a theological study center in the Alps) and works in Nashville as a freelance harpist.

“No other MBA program in the country could have offered a similar experience.”