Jacob Brennan: The Tools I Needed

With Commencement happening this week, members of the Class of 2015 reflect on their time as Mailman School students and share their plans for the future.

Heath Policy and Management student Jacob Brennan transitioned from Peace Corp volunteer to management consultant. He explains how the Mailman School opened the door to the world of health management and equipped him with the skills to succeed.

The Mailman School has been the perfect platform to launch me into a challenging and dynamic industry. My coursework in the Department of Health Policy and Management, the tools I was taught by my professors, the ideas I was exposed to, and the business acuity I gained here have been invaluable in growing from my past experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Guatemala towards my next phase as a management consultant in the healthcare advisory practice at Grant Thornton.

After serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two-and-a-half years, I returned to the Pacific Northwest where I was raised only to make another big jump. I chose to attend the Mailman School for its Columbia connection and New York City location. No question that my time here exceeded expectations.

At Mailman I got involved and served as president of the Consulting Club, where I was exposed to a myriad of consulting firms in the healthcare space. I am fortunate to have developed professional relationships with senior managers from boutique firms focused on pricing strategy for pharmaceuticals as well as large firms that help providers and payers adapt to challenging times.

All of my professors had our best interests at heart and wanted us to succeed. Professors Paul Thurman and John Winkleman taught me how to think about the intersection of public health and business comprehensively—a requirement for management. Professor Nan Liu’s Analytical Methods class gave me the tools I needed to analyze workflows and determine how best to manage capacity for the outpatient lab during my practicum at the Emory Healthcare Transplant Center. My prototype schedules, analyses, and modeling helped improve the patient experience considerably. And Heather Krasna in the Office of Career Services was beyond helpful in supporting me on my job search and building the consulting club’s relationships with prospective employers.  

I am excited to be a part of the team at Grant Thornton. As I embark on the next stop in my career, I am eager to work in the provider space as I aspire to continue making a real impact on our healthcare delivery system and most importantly, the patient experience.