A Prescription for Success

Daran Kaufman (Executive MBA, Healthcare Administration, ’18), Chief Quality Officer and Chief Medical Informatics Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals

 As a director of pediatric emergency services within the nation’s largest public healthcare system, Daran Kaufman, MD, knew an  MBA degree would enhance her skill set and build a foundation for future advancement. She considered various local and online MBA programs, but chose the Zicklin School’s Executive MBA in Healthcare Administration because of the program’s in-class cohort model, healthcare-specific curriculum, and superior value, as well as the school’s alumni network.

Her Zicklin degree, which she earned in 2018, soon led to a promotion to Chief Quality Officer and Chief Medical Informatics Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals. “My work accomplishments in leadership and quality while studying at Zicklin put me in line for these promotions,” she explains. “Employing the leadership and management skills acquired at Zicklin, I served a successful term as president of North Central Bronx Hospital’s Medical Executive Committee. And I utilized the quality tools I’d learned to initiate a major performance improvement project in the Pediatric Emergency Department that measurably enhanced patient flow.”

Dr. Kaufman shares credit for her career successes with her parents and two older sisters, whom she identifies as role models, as well as several valued mentors, both at work and within the EMBA program. She cites Zicklin adjunct professor Barbara Caress, a healthcare policy expert and practitioner, as playing a key role in expanding her industry outlook: “She forced us to think outside the box in terms of care models; this skill is particularly important to foster among future leaders in healthcare during such uncertain times.”

Kaufman recently experienced the importance of responsive care models firsthand as her emergency department treated some of the migrant children separated from their parents at the Mexican border. “I am incredibly grateful that I was given a platform to advocate for these vulnerable patients,” she says.