For Sakshi Chhaperwal, our health informatics graduate program “bridged the medical side and the technical side”
Author: Tracy Geary
Date: 04.06.21
Sakshi Chhaperwal, an experienced dentist who graduated from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore in 2017, has long had a deep interest in data analytics and data visualization. “When I was an intern in the Public Health Department, I worked with data and different databases and enjoyed solving complex problems. I later realized that I wanted to pursue a career in medical/health informatics.”
Even as an undergraduate, while doing public health outreach in India to help diabetes patients, Chhaperwal became interested in the role of data regarding disease prediction and treatment.
“I was fascinated by the ways different algorithms could predict the likelihood of events and outcomes before they occur,” she said. “This helps clinicians and hospitals to prevent as much as cure health issues such as diabetes.”
When Chhaperwal was working as a part-time clinical data manager and part-time associate dentist, she “was looking for something to bridge the medical science and the technical side,” she explained. After hearing about the master’s program in health informatics (HI) at Northeastern, a joint degree between Khoury College of Computer Sciences and Bouvé College of Health Sciences, she knew it was the best next step for her.
Photo provided by Sakshi Chhaperwal.
Two classes at Khoury in particular – Introduction of Computational Statistics and Introduction to Database Design and Security – helped her appreciate the different techniques of quantitative data analysis and database design. Her capstone project, on early diabetes diagnosis and machine learning models, focused on the effects of using electronic health record (EHR) data in predicting diabetes with the help of different machine learning models used globally to improve clinical outcomes.
Significant recognition for her research
Chhaperwal was the recipient of the New England Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (NE-HIMSS) Scholarship for the year 2019-2020. Awarded by the New England chapter of HIMSS, the annual scholarship includes attendance at their annual conference, along with $5,000 for tuition and a $200 honorarium. Jay Spitulnik, director of Northeastern’s Health Informatics program, emphasized, “The significance is that all HI students in the six-state region are eligible, and Sakshi won over numerous competitors.”
The annual HIMSS conference – the largest healthcare-related conference hosted in the U.S. – draws registrants from around the world and is so large that the only places it can be accommodated are Orlando and Las Vegas, which are noted conference locations. In 2019, there were 45,000 participants and 1,300 exhibitors. The pandemic put the 2020 conference on hold, but when it takes place in August 2021, Chhaperwal will be there!
In addition to the academic rigor and relevance of the HI graduate program, Chhaperwal said she also values what she learned from strong mentorship and teaching experience in the program. The course, Evaluating Healthcare Quality, with Professor Gary Young was especially significant to her understanding of working with quality improvement (QI).
About the program’s value to her career, Chhaperwal said, “I learned how various combinations of statistics and programming could revolutionize decision making skills for businesses, and I want to be a significant part of this revolution.”
As Holly Jimison’s graduate teaching assistant for Health Data Analytics, Chhaperwal worked with students mixed in both age and backgrounds, guiding them on course concepts. After completing a co-op at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, she was the teaching assistant for Spitulnik’s American Healthcare System course.
Spitulnik explained, “Sakshi is trained as a dental surgeon, and she effectively combined her clinical experience with what she learned during her co-op to help our students understand the complexities of the system.”
Chhaperwal graduated from Northeastern in May 2020 with her MS in Health Informatics. Her capstone project led to an internship this past July with Vivor, a New York City-based company that works to bridge the gap between patients and financial assistance. A full-time job at Medical Mutual of Ohio began while she was still interning remotely with Vivor. “The internship came first and then the job,” she said, “which led to a lot of overlapping.”
Data analysis and project management in health care role
While she worked on the marketing side of health care at Vivor, Chhaperwal’s new job at Medical Mutual as a Health Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) quality improvement analyst involves quality measures. HEDIS is a comprehensive set of standardized performance measures designed to provide consumers with the information they need for reliable comparison of health plan performance.
For her job, Chhaperwal moved to Cleveland last July. Currently working remotely, her responsibilities include reporting of existing care gaps of patients who can be reached out to and gaps in their care that can be closed. “I analyze the data as well as work as a project manager for the HEDIS season project, which is an annually occurring project,” she explained. “This project requires submission of the HEDIS roadmap which is a document that NCQA-the accreditation committee requires to be completed before the project begins. I assist in completion of this roadmap i.e. collecting all the data required from different departments and making sure it gets submitted before the audit.”
She added, “I am using the concepts learned in my Khoury courses in my current job.”
Describing the significance of the HI program in her career, she said, “I learned how various combinations of statistics and programming could revolutionize decision making skills for businesses, and I want to be a significant part of this revolution.”
With passion, she concluded, “After getting this scholarship from HIMSS, I believe I have a moral duty to give back to the community.”