Create Opportunities for People to Become Healthy

Wendy Muckle, MHA 1988 Many people think of academia as being separate from the real world. Their kind of thinking doesn’t reflect my experience. What I learned via the Telfer MHA has enabled me to create opportunities for people to remain or become healthy. You can’t get more real world than that. Every single day, I put to use the skills I gained at the Telfer School—in analytics, in strategic planning, in research methodology, in project and financial management. These skills also shape the systematic frame of mind I apply to every problem my organization faces. This combination of ability and attitude gives me the confidence and ambition to tackle tough challenges, build broad partnerships, and try methods that have never been seen or done before.

I simply couldn’t function—let alone achieve any degree of professional success—without these skills and the frame of mind they inspire. My position as executive director of Ottawa Inner City Health has no piece of paper that tells me what to do and how to do it. Solutions are never plug and play. My job requires me to think what I call big thoughts about big problems and the big ideas and partnerships to solve them.

It only sounds daunting. My work connects me with people I like and actions I believe in. It gives energy and balance to my life. It enables me to do not merely what I want to do, but also what matters so much to me that I believe I was born to do it. There is no better feeling and no greater satisfaction than that—and the Telfer MHA made it possible.

Five remarkable alumni, including Wendy Muckle, will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to the world of business, healthcare, community and their alma mater at the 2016 Telfer School of Management Gala of Excellence. The Gala will be held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, October 15, 2016. This will also be an opportunity to collectively celebrate our alma mater and highlight the graduation anniversary of the classes of 1966, 1976, 1991 and 2006.

Join us on October 15, 2016 »