Faith Makka

Each summer, Brigham Health welcomes a new class of Deland Fellows in Health Care and Society, who participate in a one-year administrative experience that prepares early-career professionals to be leaders of health care institutions. Each fellow works closely with a member of the senior leadership team who serves as their mentor.

BWH Bulletin will introduce you to this year’s three Deland Fellows in a series of articles, beginning with Faith Makka, MSN, MPH.

Name: Faith Makka, MSN, MPH

Hometown: Abuja, Nigeria

Executive mentor: Wanda McClain, MBA

Previous role: I am a recent graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health, where I studied health management. Prior to that, I was a full-time nurse practitioner working in an inpatient, general medicine service in underserved, community hospitals in rural New Mexico and Texas.

What drew you to BWH? The Brigham is truly a center of excellence and at the cutting edge of innovation, research, science, technology and care delivery. I knew my experience as an administrative fellow at BWH would be unparalleled and immensely enriching. Additionally, being here is a full-circle experience for me, as my first encounter with the Brigham dates back to 2010, when my sister was a patient here. She received spectacular care from specialists and nurses, so BWH has always had a special place in my heart.

What are you looking forward to working on? I’m excited to work on projects related to clinical operations, quality and process improvement, community engagement and patient experience. I also want to explore finance and analytics. As I explore projects from an administrative/management perspective, it remains equally important to me to stay tethered to the front lines of care delivery.

Your dream job: I hope to be able to successfully develop and manage a fully functional health facility from the ground up in an underserved area, with the goals of improving access to quality health care and mitigating health disparities.

Fun facts about you: I love to explore new cultures, and I’d like to think of myself as a citizen of the world. I have traveled to 24 countries and counting. I also love to scuba dive. Most recently, I went scuba diving in the Red Sea in Egypt, off Cozumel in Mexico and in the Indian Ocean off the Maldives.