Jonathan Anderson - Class of 2008

After graduating, I began working for the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) as an Epidemiologist in Communicable Disease Epidemiology. I worked there for five years until I accepted a position at Intermountain Healthcare (IH) as a Data Analyst, and I am currently an Analytics Manager at IH. While working at UDOH I enrolled in the University of Utah's Health Promotion and Education PhD program as a part-time student and graduated in 2020. During my time as a student at the U of U, I also earned a Teaching in Higher Education certificate and taught as an adjunct faculty for several years. At IH I earned a Healthcare Quality Improvement certification and routinely coach/consult healthcare leaders who participate in a quality improvement training sponsored by IH.

Working in the Analytics Department for a healthcare organization gives me the opportunity to use data as I work closely with nurses, physicians and other leaders to improve the health for people in our community. It is very rewarding.

Technical skills include the ability to use data and visualization tools such as Tableau, R, and Python, along with database querying using Structured Query Language (SQL). A basic understanding of statistics is also helpful. Communication skills are important. Data analysts should be able to speak to leaders and others in the organization who aren't familiar with data to help them understand and interpret it. Lastly, I strive to learn about and gain leadership attributes to help our team be the best we can be.

I was blessed with caring professors who mentored and guided me as I tried to figure out my path. I had an incredible cohort of classmates who were thoughtful, supportive, and stay in touch to this day. The people I rubbed shoulders with at BYU inspired me to pay it forward when I can and give of my time and perspective if others have questions about their education and career journeys.

Earning an MPH helped me see the doors that can be opened through education...there is always something for me to learn and a purpose in the learning process. I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do after MPH graduation - I had no idea I would end up in Analytics - but the MPH program helped me better understand what I enjoy, what I'm good at, and test new areas. It qualified me to enter the job market with skills that were valued and set me up to move on to earning a PhD.