KCK students complete Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute

News Release:

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- Kansas City metro area students, Evan Bailey (Lee’s Summit), Nahshon Thomas (Kansas City, Kansas), Jasmin Guzman (Kansas City, Kansas)and DeNesha Johnson (Kansas City, Kansas)  were among 14 exceptional minority scholars from colleges and universities across the country including: Fisk University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University , Morehouse College and North Carolina A&T State University; Clayton State University, Tuskegee University and the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) to complete the second annual Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute (BHLI) in Kansas City, Mo.

The BHLI is an intense, two-year, professional development program, founded by Truman Medical Centers (TMC) President/CEO John W. Bluford, as a way to use his more than 40 years in healthcare to help develop the next generation of leaders.

“The Institute is modeled after Harvard University’s mid-career executive management programs, with the intent of exposing these undergraduate scholars to high level leaders from Healthcare, Business, Education and other fields,” Bluford said. “The program content will benefit these young talented people 15-20 years into the future as they ascend to leadership roles in their chosen fields.”

During the first year, students spend nearly two weeks exposed to a comprehensive view of today’s healthcare landscape, demonstrating the multiple possibilities for leadership roles and opportunities to succeed outside the standard clinical areas.

Through a series of local and national speaker presentations, experiential activities and visits to organizations and entities throughout Kansas City, the BHLI challenges these young scholars to see health as a potential career. During the second year of the program, students compete for summer internships in healthcare organizations across the country.

Speakers and presenters at the BHLI included: Susan Wilson, Ph.D., University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) Vice Chancellor, Division of Diversity and Inclusion; Carmela Coyle, President/CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association; Leo Morton, UMKC Chancellor; Carlos Jackson, American Hospital Association, Senior Associate Director of Federal Relations; Kevin Lofton, President/CEO Catholic Health Initiatives; Eugene Woods, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer CHRISTUS Health; Hilda Fuentes, CEO Samuel H. Rodgers Health Center; Sister Berta Sailer, Co-Founder Operation Breakthrough, and several TMC physicians and administrators.

“I have attended a number of different leadership workshops over the course of my college education,” Bailey stated. “Without a doubt, I can say that the BHLI hosted the most dynamic and balanced speaker lineup that I have experienced thus far.”

Bailey, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, is a Masters of Business Administration major and plans to attend law school. He was the beneficiary of a Theta Boule Scholarship to attend the 2014 BHLI. Thomas, Tuskegee University, is a chemical engineering major and aspires to start his own bio-medical engineering company.

He is a former participant in the Urban League Project Ready – ACT Program. Guzman, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, is a nursing major and plans to enter medical school, Johnson, UMKC, is a nursing major who plans to go on to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. 

Both Guzman and Johnson are former Kauffman Scholars.