Andrew Farkas has been on the front lines helping to save lives for Boston MedFlight for more than two decades, first as a clinician, then eventually working his way up to chief operating officer. After 25 years at the company, he was ready to augment his skills.
“I wanted to complement my experience with more structured education,” he says.
After hearing good things from colleagues who’d taken UMass Lowell’s master’s in health informatics program, Farkas made the jump back to college after a 35-year hiatus. In July 2018, he completed his master’s degree, with a specialization in management. The flexibility of the program allowed him to pace his education and finish his master’s degree at the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences in 3½ years as he continued working full time.
“It’s OK to take your time. I’m glad I did that,” Farkas says. He especially values the variety of perspectives his classmates brought to chats and discussions, reflecting a broad range of IT, clinical and management experiences.
Farkas adds that every class he took had an application to the work world, and that the faculty were excellent.
“All had something to bring,” he says.
And Farkas will now bring something more to his workplace: fresh management ideas, best practices and the deeper understanding of his field that the master’s degree in health informatics provides.
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