Student conference explores navigating trust in health care during uncertain times

Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s Healthcare Business Association hosted its annual conference on March 12. The event focused on building greater trust of health care within communities and providing various avenues to navigate a pandemic.

The HBA is a student-run organization that brings health care and business together, concentrating on the effects of the interplay between the two topics.

Dean Alex Triantis gave the welcoming remarks at this year’s conference.

“I commend the Healthcare Business Association for tackling these complex and urgent problems, and I look forward to learning about the solutions they will explore,” Triantis said.

Sammantha Marks (Flexible MBA ’22), vice president of the HBA spring conference, has been involved in numerous women’s and professional groups. The emergence of COVID-19 presented her with another opportunity for involvement – to consider the impact of a pandemic on the healthcare system.

“Health care is an important sector to know – it was a great opportunity for me to become a part of something so pertinent,” Marks said.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in health care
Building trust through diversity was a main topic in this year’s conference. The event utilized design-focused thinking with a human-centered approach and showcased Johns Hopkins leaders and industry experts such as Yael Elish, founder and CEO of StuffThatWorks.

The main session – on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in health care – preceded the breakout sessions. Breakouts included research and development, socioeconomic wellness in mental health, hard restarting health care, and harnessing technology in a time of crisis.

The panelists discussed how the lack of trust in health care affects society. “Our main focus was ensuring that all of the panels were viewed from a health care lens. Regardless of what sector you may be a part of, you could learn something new from our speakers,” Marks said.

The committee members spent hours online workshopping through the different panels.

“As students, when you take on new opportunities external to your schoolwork, job, and personal life, something to remember is to remain human,” Marks said. She went on to explain that members could remind themselves it was necessary to have time away from the computer.

With about 260 total registrants, the conference saw steady numbers throughout the entire day.

“When kicking off the event, I felt the magic of everything we worked on the past eight months come together. It’s very special to see people being engaged in these topics,” Marks said.