50 Careers for 50 Years

Jay Hamm was putting his USC nursing degree to good use working at a Level 1 Trauma Center when he began thinking about health care differently. He quickly realized how short life can be and observed that patients were significantly impacted by their socioeconomic status, including availability of health insurance, education, jobs, and/or basic living conditions.

Determined to help his community and state, Hamm decided to build on his seven years of clinical experience by enrolling in the Master of Health Administration program with the Arnold School’s Department of Health Services Policy and Management. He chose USC because of the program’s nationally recognized faculty and the opportunity to hold a graduate assistantship.

After graduating in 2000, Hamm served as the Administrator for Patient Care Services at University of Virigina Healthcare before returning to South Carolina as Vice President for Operations at Palmetto Health Richland Hospital. He stayed with Palmetto Health for the next decade – first as System Vice President for Clinical Operations before returning to Palmetto Health Richland Hospital as COO and then CEO. In 2020, Hamm made the move to Lexington Medical Center, where he leads Operations as Vice President.

Hamm says that the education and experiences he received at the Arnold School provided him with numerous opportunities to lead in academic and community health care organizations. Inspired by the MHA program’s strong focus on public health, Hamm has remained committed to community involvement throughout his career, serving on various boards and building partnerships to improve health at the local level.

“The one certain thing we know about health care is that it is in a constant state of change and that the health care leader of tomorrow must be flexible and adaptable,” Hamm says. “I would also encourage future leaders to always have a plan on what your next career goal is and work hard to put yourself in a position to learn new skills and experiences so that you are prepared for the next step. In addition, broaden your scope and network with peers across the nation so that you are up to date on what is happening in our industry.”

Being a Gamecock isn’t the only reason to pursue a graduate degree at the University of South Carolina, according to Sara Ballentine, a 2014 graduate of the Arnold School of Public Health. The health services policy and management department’s Master of Health Administration program prepared Ballentine for the world of health care management, offering numerous educational and practical opportunities at some of the best health care settings in the state.

Ballentine has spent the entirety of her career with one organization, Lovelace Family Medicine, an independent rural family medicine with obstetrics practice located in Prosperity, South Carolina. She began as the facility’s Quality Manager, spearheading projects related to smoking cessation, patient-center medical home care models, and telehealth weight management, which received recognition from the National Rural Health Association.

In 2018, Ballentine was named Practice Administrator after working for a year under the previous administrator, discovering what independent rural medicine really involved. Ballentine considers herself lucky to have been with Lovelace during the COVID-19 pandemic where the practice not only remained available to patients but also gave nearly 30,000 vaccinations across the state, focusing primarily on the midlands. Most recently, she helped lead their transition to a new electronic medical record (EMR) system after utilizing the same EMR since 1998.

Ballentine calls her decade at Lovelace a “whirlwind,” noting how grateful she is to have stood strong on this path and going on to mention “I cannot recall one day I was not engaged or challenged at Lovelace Family Medicine.” Typical duties include HR activities, monitoring provider production and income, and staying up-to-date on ever-changing health care policies. Other responsibilities include physician recruitment, maintaining the corporate records such as calculating ownership buy-ins or real estate purchases, working closely with Newberry Health where they provide full medicine call coverage and share obstetrics call coverage, process improvement, hardware and software management, value-based workflows and much more.

“Once you narrow down your focus – in my case, HSPM – that is when your world really opens,” Ballentine tells current and future students. “The word ‘health’ can take on many different meanings but at the end of the day, health care is about people, and people are messy but that is what makes this career path so fulfilling. The most important thing you can do is keep a positive attitude, ask questions, and embrace change. There is so much room for improvement and endless opportunities to improve the lives of others. You don’t have to be in a clinical position to do that.”

An internship focused on HIV/AIDS when he was an undergrad in Texas was Doug Taylor’s first introduction to the field of public health. One of his professors, a USC alumnus, then encouraged him to pursue a graduate degree at the Arnold School.

Thinking back on his time in the Master of Public Health in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior program, Taylor most remembers the faculty and students. He calls the faculty encouraging and supportive – always pushing students to ground their work in evidence and science. Taylor also admired his classmates, who shared a strong commitment to making a difference and inspired him to stay devoted to advancing public health.

Since his graduation in 1995, Taylor has spent the past 30 years serving in various positions within the state. These roles have included working with members of the Arnold School and the Department of Social Services to evaluate the statewide teen pregnancy prevention program, serving as president for the South Carolina Association for the Advancement of Health Education, assessing the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s STD/HIV community-based prevention programs (for which he received the Excellence in HIV/STD Prevention Award), and joining Fact Forward (an adolescent reproductive health initiative) to serve as Chief Program Officer and Director of Operations and Finance. In 2024, he made the move back to the Arnold School to serve as the Social Determinants of Health Initiative Director at the Center for Community Health Alignment, where he works to align systems and infrastructure to improve health outcomes.

“One of the best pieces of advice I received during graduate school was to get involved with professional organizations, especially in South Carolina,” Taylor shares with future students. “In the current environment, it is particularly important that students engage with their professional organizations in policy advocacy, learn to communicate clearly and persuasively with the public on the important role public health plays in improving population health, and vote for leaders who support science-based health policy to defend and strengthen the field.”

A graduate of the Arnold School’s B.S. in Exercise Science program, Elijah Christian’s undergraduate years exposed him to various careers in the field of public health. Inspired by faculty and student perspectives, he chose the Master of Public Health in Health Services Policy and Management program for his graduate degree. He found comradery within his cohort, which shared a sense of excitement and encouragement.

A graduate assistantship with the Center for Applied Research and Evaluation turned into a research associate position, and Christian stayed on with the Arnold School for another five years. He left the university for a data analyst position with the South Carolina Hospital Association in 2023 – receiving a promotion to Manager of Data and Measurement just two years later.

At the SCHA, Christian manages data collection, analysis, and reporting for two Duke Endowment grants across both North and South Carolina. He oversees technical assistance to 30 networks and 30 coalitions across the Carolinas and says the skills he gained during his graduate program provided him with the public health practice foundation to excel in these roles.

In particular, Christian has leveraged analytical, leadership, facilitation and evaluation skills in each of his roles to contribute to larger community health initiatives and projects. He has also fostered relationships in the community with changemakers and has helped organizations, coalitions, and networks clearly communicate the impact of their work to the public.

“There is a wealth of knowledge that comes from the Arnold School, and you should take advantage of being able to hear about past experiences, successes, and challenges of faculty, alumni, and other students,” Christian says. “I think many public health concepts are best learned through doing and having firsthand experiences, so its important to seek out opportunities to shadow, intern and volunteer. You’d be surprised how quickly you take information from the classroom to the real world.”

After graduating with a Master of Public Health from Yale University, New Hampshire native Jennifer Mandelbaum enrolled at USC because she was drawn to the health disparities, nutrition and global health research happening at the Arnold School. She also loved the interdisciplinary environment, particularly within the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior where she was a doctoral student.

Following her 2022 graduation, Mandelbaum gained additional experience as a Healthcare Economics Consultant for Optum before joining athenahealth as a Mixed Method Research Manager. She’s also a part-time community health lecturer at Tufts University and a state representative for the New Hampshire House of Representatives. In addition to the numerous awards she received while a student, she has since received the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Health Policy Advocacy Award (2025), was named in New Hampshire Union Leader’s 40 Under Forty (2024) and has been honored with APHA Public Health Education and Health Promotion section’s Early Career Award (2023).

Mandelbaum says she uses the lessons learned from her doctoral program in all aspects of her career, including research, education and policy. She leans on her interdisciplinary health education and training for major projects, such as designing and analyzing athenahealth’s annual Physician Sentiment Survey. This nationally representative study identifies critical trends in health care, such as the adoption of artificial intelligence, the shift toward value-based care, and the growing challenge of clinician burnout.

“Ask for what you want, and then ask for more,” Mandelbaum advises current/future students. “I think there’s a tendency for students, especially women, to feel that they can’t ask for things they feel would be good professional or personal development opportunities. But what’s the worst that could happen? Don’t be the person holding yourself back from your own potential. At the Arnold School, I learned to advocate for myself and the things that would advance my career and bring me fulfillment.”

Robert McKeown was beginning his second career and second doctoral degree when he arrived at USC in the late 1980s. His entry into the Ph.D. in Epidemiology program marked his transition from theology to public health (combined in later projects), and 40-year-old McKeown was grateful to be accepted into Arnold School community by a supportive and encouraging faculty and generous financial aid package. The department’s focus on both epidemiology and biostatistics and its strong mentorship and research opportunities helped McKeown become a better epidemiologist, teacher, researcher, and public health practitioner.

As he wrapped up his dissertation project, the department invited him to join their faculty ranks and he spent the next 20 years teaching and conducting psychiatric epidemiology research, including a 10-year Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded project focused on ADHD. He held leadership roles as department chair as well as epidemiology graduate director and division head. At the national level, McKeown served as president, a member of the board of directors, and ethics committee chair for the American College of Epidemiology as well as chair for the epidemiology section and a member of the governing council for the American Public Health Association.

Since retiring in 2012, the Distinguished Professor Emeritus has led junior faculty mentoring programs at USC and provided service/consulting for the CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, and American College of Epidemiology. He is the recipient of the Abraham Lilienfeld Award for Excellence in Teaching Epidemiology from the APHA Epidemiology Section and received all three faculty awards from the Arnold School for teaching, research, and service.

“Make use of the time and resources you have available to you,” McKeown advises current and future students. “The very strong, dedicated, accomplished faculty and supportive staff can guide you to explore new areas related to your field or introduce you to new topics or areas of research. Find mentors with whom you can work and whom you trust, and don’t forget other students, who can also broaden your perspective and teach you as well as learn from you.”

Jordan Slice-Metcalfe transferred to USC from a small, private college so she could expand her options and find her path. The Career Center matched her with public health, and she knew it was meant to be that the Arnold School had recently begun offering a bachelor’s program in the field. Thrilled with her choice, Slice-Metcalfe graduated in 2010 and has worked in research and evaluation ever since.

Always passionate about reproductive health, her first role was with Fact Forward (then known as the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy) where she spent three years as a research assistant. A little more than a decade ago, Slice-Metcalfe made the move to Richland School District One, where she took a research specialist position with the Office of Accountability, Assessment, Research, and Evaluation.

Her responsibilities include providing teachers and school administrators with timely access to meaningful analysis of their students’ test performance. Slice-Metcalfe also works to ensure that this data is clearly communicated so it can help inform targeted interventions and support the most vulnerable students. Never forgetting her educational roots, she knows that access to equitable, high-quality educational services and programs impacts public health at the student, family, and community levels.

“Stay curious about the world around you,” Slice-Metcalfe suggests to current and future students. “At no point in our lives will we know everything there is to know, so commit to being a ‘lifelong learner’ – whatever that means to you! Read books of all genres, explore new places – even in your own community, commit to ‘unplugging’ as often as you can, listen to people’s stories and ask thoughtful questions, find a creative outlet and nurture it as often as you can, give freely however you feel most comfortable (share your time, money, resources – whatever you can spare). These opportunities will remind you that your perspective is a small, but important piece of the puzzle that makes up public health.”

Myriam Torres discovered public health when she was working in underserved areas of Colombia as a nurse in the 1980s. She returned to school to earn a master’s in public health and found a passion for epidemiology, which led her to the Arnold School for not one – but eventually two – degrees in the field.

Torres says she loved the quality of the programs and faculty, who were friendly and truly cared about students’ professional success and personal lives. She felt like her public health practice experience was valued and loved the small class sizes and potluck dinners where dishes were shared by students from all over the world.

After completing her Master of Science in Public Health degree, Torres worked as a health services coordinator and a professor of epidemiology at her nursing degree alma mater, the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota. When she returned to South Carolina, she enrolled in the doctoral program and worked as a research associate with USC’s Institute for Families in Society. Her role as the Institute’s coordinator for the statewide Hispanic Health Needs Assessment launched Torres’ career focusing on the health of Hispanic and Latino populations. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the USC Rural Health Research Center.

Since then, Torres has been a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, while also holding roles as the Epidemiology MPH Program Director, Director for the Consortium for Latino Health Studies, and Assistant Dean for Public Health Practice. She is also a core faculty member of the School of Medicine’s Preventive Medicine and USC’s FIRST FIIRRE programs.

“Learn from the experiences of your peers, professors, and staff while in graduate school,” Torres advises students. “You certainly learn from the courses in your program, but interactions with others can bring everything together for you. Take advantage of the many opportunities the university offers you. Attend cultural events, political rallies, go to the State House and advocate for things you feel passionate about; study hard and have fun. School is where you can do all of that. Be the maker of your experiences: don’t wait for things to happen; make them happen!”

Ashley Vertuno chose the Arnold School for her Master of Health Administration degree because of its reputation in health administration education and its focus on developing future health care leaders. She served as president of the Healthcare Executive Student Association (introducing USC to the Medical Group Management Association) and completed her graduate assistantship at the USC Specialty Clinic’s Family Medicine Center – thriving on her program’s sense of collaboration, mentorship from faculty, and professional networking opportunities.

Following her 2012 graduation, Vertuno held various administrative roles at health care organizations in Missouri and California before joining HCA Healthcare Florida as Chief Operating Officer for its Westside Hospital in 2017. She has led the HCA Florida Jfk North Hospital – a 280-bed acute care facility in Palm Beach County – as Chief Executive Officer since 2020.

A Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year and Baldrige Foundation Award for Leadership Excellence winner (both in 2024), Vertuno says her degree has been instrumental in every step of her career – from the foundational education to the strategic mindset needed to navigate complex health care environments. She believes it has equipped her to make data-driven decisions, lead teams effectively and drive improvements in patient care while fostering mentorship, community impact, and a culture of excellence.

“Seek mentors to help guide your career journey – remembering to mentor others along the way – and maximize networking opportunities with faculty, alumni, and industry leaders, which will be invaluable throughout your career,” advises Vertuno, was named an Emerging Leader (recently renamed 40 Under 40 Awards) by Modern Healthcare in 2023. “Get involved in leadership roles that will set you apart while providing hands-on experience and embrace adaptability. Health care is an evolving field, so be open to learning, innovation, and new challenges.”

Pawleys-Island native Gary Cooper spent his childhood watching his father provide pharmaceutical services to nursing home residents across the state. Inspired to help this population age-in-place, he and his dad launched Winyah Home Health after he graduated with a Master of Health Administration degree from the Department of Health Services Policy and Management in 1996.

Over the next two decades, Cooper launched, bought and sold a variety of health care organizations to serve South Carolina and the surrounding Southeast. He was a self-proclaimed workaholic until he decided to slow down in 2017. In the eight years since then, his primary business, Palmetto Infusion, has grown from $80 to $800 million in annual revenues and from 80 employees to 700. He shares the lessons learned from this success (and the challenges that predated it) in the book, The Success Paradox.

Another major factor in his career has been his status as an alumni of both Wofford College (1994) and the University of South Carolina. The connections he’s made through these vast networks have been invaluable. Further, having an MHA has opened many doors in his field in terms of building and growing new partnerships and businesses.

Looking forward, Cooper sees analytics as the future of health care and believes that students who embrace it can be the change makers of how we manage chronic diseases and other aspects of aging. He also advises focusing on emotional intelligence and other social skills, like public speaking.

“Focus on people and invest in relationships and communication skills,” Cooper says. “The ability to communicate an individual or corporate goal is vital in order to become a good leader in a group, at home, a small organization or a running a large complex multi-state organization.”

Originally from Greenville, South Carolina, Jay Urich came to USC to play football and fuel his passion for helping people, which aligned with his decision to study public health. Urich believes that his experiences with the Arnold School prepared him for the next phase of his life: launching a non-profit to serve children in the Columbia area.

Original Design is a year-long mentorship program that provides the resources, opportunities, and supportive relationships necessary kids ages 8-12 years old to thrive. Urich, who went on to earn a Master of Education at USC in 2023, oversees a team of mentors and volunteers who are eager to make a difference in local youth through faith, health, athletics and life skills.

Learning about the social determinants of health through his bachelor’s program has helped Urich better understand and develop plans for how to best serve these populations. Conversations with faculty helped him learn how to diver deeper into course concepts to better apply them to this work and the athlete-focused training and mentorship he provides through a second startup he launched last year, Banner Player Development.

“Take everything in and enjoy every moment,” Urich advises current students at the Arnold School. “Take what you are learning and ask the question, ‘How does this apply to what I am passionate about?’ Start to think about your future and the dreams you have and combine what you are learning to help you accomplish those dreams. Time is your friend! As you learn and grow, you will gain experiences and wisdom that you will be grateful for down the road.”

A native of Columbia, Mary Ann Galloway (known as Mag) graduated from USC with a degree in psychology in 1972. While trying to make an impact at an outpatient social and rehabilitation facility in downtown Atlanta, she realized she needed an advanced degree in the field and chose to pursue a Master of Public Health degree.

After starting in the master’s degree program at Johns Hopkins University, Galloway transferred to USC to join the brand-new school of public health. Arriving on the same day as the inaugural dean, Rolf Lynton, her presence helped shape the program as they worked to build a curriculum of courses in public health, business, and other allied health disciplines. Following her 1975 graduation as the school’s very first alumna, Galloway worked at the Health Systems Agency of San Diego and Imperial Counties before launching a consulting firm that would span three decades and much of the country.

Always an entrepreneur, Galloway’s career has also included small businesses (e.g., selling plants and pimento cheese), real estate, and book publications – with plenty of time spent in public health spaces, whether governmental or private-sector. Back in South Carolina, these days she does real estate consulting, writes, and launches online businesses. Hers is a diverse and impactful career made possible by her innovative spirit, embrace of change, and the educational foundation she established at USC. Her advice to current and future students echoes these sentiments.

“Over the past 50 years, we’ve seen public health evolve from a primarily local focus to a global force, from basic sanitation to complex policy, from reactive measures to predictive modeling,” Galloway says. “Your challenge for the next 50 years is even more exciting – you’ll be tackling emerging health threats we can’t yet imagine, using technologies we haven’t invented, and finding connections we’re just beginning to understand. The systematic thinking skills you’re gaining now will be your foundation for shaping the future of global health. Remain curious, stay innovative, and keep pushing the boundaries of what public health can achieve.”

A graduate of USC’s first baccalaureate of nursing class (1962), Lillian (Lill) Mood spent several years working in community hospitals before joining the State Board of Health (later known as DHEC and recently renamed the Department of Public Health) for the remainder of her 32-year career. In 1975, Mood enrolled in the inaugural cohort of USC’s brand-new school of public health.

Her initial job in public health was in developing Home Health Services, a benefit of Medicare, provided through certified agencies in SC county health departments.

She went on to use her Master of Public Health degree in multiple administrative roles in the DHEC commissioner’s office – overseeing nursing, other professional services, and home health care, as well as quality assurance and system surveillance. She spent the final third of her career on the environmental side of the agency as the liaison between scientists/environmental engineers and the local residents they keep safe.

She chaired an Institute of Medicine study of Nursing, Health, and Environment (1995) and is a charter member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments.

Since retiring in 2001, Mood has remained busy with tennis, kayaking, singing in her church choir and the Dutch Fork Choral Society, hiking, spending time with family (three children, 12 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren) and volunteering with numerous service organizations, primarily the Central Midlands Transit Authority Governing Board and the League of Women Voters. She also serves on the Public Health Practice Advisory Council for the Arnold School.

Her advice to current and future students is to focus on building community – from each individual relationship to groups and organizations.

“You are part of some of the most important and most needed work in the world – building and sustaining healthy people in healthy communities by leaving conditions better than you found them,” Mood says. “The field of public health offers you knowledge, skills and connections to enable your part of the work to be linked to a bigger effort to create conditions in which people can be healthy. Seek and see each new connection as an ally, a way to strengthen the work of public health that needs and requires the best in all of us, working together.”