Dr. Catherine Sembajwe-Reeves
MHA Program Director and Assistant Professor, Health Administration & Health Policy
Education & Experience:
I earned a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership and Development with a focus on Health Care Administration from Grand Canyon University, a Master of Arts in Political Science with concentrations in International Development Policy and Administration, and Policy Analysis, from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Communications and International Studies from the University of Kansas.
Prior to joining the HSC School of Public Health, I worked in local government as Privacy Office and Division Manager for Administration and Compliance at Denton County Public Health. As Division Manager, I oversaw grants administration, budget development and monitoring, front office clinical operations, records management, call center operations, Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) activities, workforce development and training, HIPAA and HITECH compliance monitoring, risk assessment and risk management for protected health information, and Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) compliance monitoring and reporting.
Prior to working in local public health, I spent over 10 years working in academic public health, first at the University of Florida in the College of Public Health and Health Professions, and then at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (HSC) School of Public Health. I have extensive experience in the areas of curriculum development, student advising, faculty development, institutional effectiveness and accreditation monitoring and reporting for the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), the Commission on Education of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
Teaching Areas & Public Health Interests:
My teaching areas have included health administration and management, marketing health services, HIPAA privacy and compliance, quality improvement, introduction to patient safety, organizational leadership, workforce development and business communications. Throughout my career I have taught sessions on professional development, portfolio preparation, international student assimilation and competency-based learning.
My interests in preparing the public health and health administration workforce have been shaped by leadership roles that provided me with firsthand experience of the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system and the role that public health professionals play in influencing policy and creating access to affordable and compassionate quality care. These leadership roles provided me with the opportunity to improve the patient experience of uninsured and underinsured community members seeking care, as well as implement quality improvement measures that helped internal communications between front office staff, nursing staff and medical providers.
My interests also extend to health and data privacy. I enjoy training early careerists and established health administrators in HIPAA/HITECH risk assessment and risk management, in the development of processes for monitoring and auditing electronic medical records, in the implementation of data analysis measures aimed at continuous quality improvement in the delivery of care, and in health privacy incident monitoring and reporting.
Professional Activities & Awards:
I am an active member of the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), the Society of Corporate Compliance Ethics (SCCE), the North Texas Ethics & Compliance Council (NTECC) and the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). I am Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB) trained and hold a certificate in International Development Policy and Administration (IDPA) and a certificate in Building Expertise in Administration & Management (BEAM) through the National Networks of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) and the CDC.
Scholarly Interests:
My research has focused primarily on the development of competency-based education (CBE) in higher education, the implementation of competency-based curricular for student development and faculty perceptions of competency-based curricula for student preparedness. Currently, my main role is to serve as a practitioner in the area of health administration and health policy, where I am able to engage in competency development and application in the MHA curriculum to foster student success. In this capacity I enjoy advising, mentoring and coaching our cohort and online MHA students, as well as collaborating with faculty and community members in the areas of workforce development and building expertise in healthcare administration, management and policy.
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