MHA program sharpens student’s focus, expands experiences

September 16, 2025 – DENTON – As a physical therapy assistant for eight years, Kesia Derilus has worked on the clinical side of healthcare, treating patients. Now, in a move to advance her career, Derilus is pursuing a master’s of healthcare administration degree at Texas Woman’s – and learning about the business side of healthcare. 

“So just being able to understand the clinical side of it, what we complain about, about how they're not doing this, but then, now understanding the business side of it and saying, ‘oh, that's why they can't do that,’” Derilus said. “I understand the whole process of everything.”

Through the program, Derilus is learning about the various branches in healthcare administration – from health information management to health finance to human resources. The TWU Dallas student has set her sights on operations management as a possible career path after she graduates in December 2025. 

“So it encompasses process management, developing and implementing operational policies, supervising the team, creating schedules, adhering to quality standards and making sure everything meets regulatory compliance,” Derilus said.

She realized she was already doing some of these tasks in her current role as a rehabilitation director. It’s a fairly new position for her and she has applied gained knowledge about leadership, productivity and income to her workplace.  

“The business cannot be a business unless it's making money,” Derilus said. 

Not only does the MHA Global Health program examine different segments within healthcare administration, it also gives students opportunities to explore international healthcare systems firsthand through study abroad trips. 

Derilus spent a week last summer in Ottawa, Canada and traveled to Berlin in August with her Dallas and Houston classmates. Along with the lectures by German healthcare professionals, on-site visits and interactions with local experts, Derilus truly experienced Germany. 

She sampled the Berlin food and culture, browsed pop-up flea markets and strolled through Leipzig, one of Germany’s largest cities and the longtime home where composer/musician Johann Sebastian Bach spent much of his life.

“I would say it was literally just a whole experience of learning healthcare, but also just learning Germany,” Darius said. 

One of the big takeaways for Derilus and her classmates was how intricate the German healthcare system actually is. In addition to statutory health insurance, Germans also have private insurance.

“Their system is very complicated and we had so many questions that they answered,” Derilus said. 

One of the biggest surprises to Derilus was Germany’s lack of electronic health records, which are digital versions of patients’ medical history. 

“As advanced as they are with electronics and things like that, it was very interesting to find out that they do not have an electronic health record system, which is very big in the U.S. in order to be able to track people's personal health information and to be able to streamline processes,” Derilus said.

But, for Derilus, the trip was more than just learning about German history and its healthcare system, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to absorb German culture. 

“I was going for the whole experience,” Derilus said. “I'm just one of those types of people that just kind of want to just be present in it and to see everything that's going on.”