Making a difference: Claire Masters helps Yale graduate students find their way

Technically, Claire Masters’s title is associate director of the Yale School of Public Health’s Office of Health Care Management Education. She co-directs the program with Dr. Howard Forman, M.D., M.B.A., professor of radiology and biomedical imaging and professor of economics, management and public health (health policy).

Masters, M.S., PMP, also co-directs the joint three-year M.P.H./M.B.A. program within the School of Management and the accelerated 22-month M.P.H./M.B.A.

In reality, though, the native Australian is also a counselor, sounding board, therapist and den mother. All that and more.

“She is a multi-talented health professional who effortlessly (seemingly) glided into this job and did it as though she had been doing it since birth,” said Forman, who calls her “my equal in running this program.”

“She is capable of all the administrative work that is expected of her, but she has become a counselor, advisor, mentor, organizer and leader to our 100 students,” Forman said. “She has responsibility (with me) for curriculum, advising, career development and recruitment, and interfacing with alumni and recruiters. It goes without saying that the program’s success (which is vast) relies heavily on her.”

“I’m blushing virtually,” Masters responded, when told of Forman’s accolades during a recent phone interview. “We have had this big intake of M.P.H. students in ’20-21. I understand some students are referring to us as ‘Mom and Dad,’ which seems strange but we also kind of love that.”

The job was made all the more difficult last school year because the pandemic forced Masters to meet with her students by Zoom and through email. Most of her second-year students are only now meeting her for the first time in person.

“It’s not a really terrible challenge. Everyone you work with is going through much harder challenges,” she said. “Many of the students have a completely different feeling when they start. It’s harder for them to get adjusted. It’s quite rough. Howie and I know this.”

A Counselor and Confidant

Scarlett Ma was an administrative summer resident last year at UPMC’s Heart and Vascular Institute in Pittsburgh and plans to return there after graduation. But her future wasn’t always so secure. As a first-year student in the M.P.H. program last year, Ma faced a lot of uncertainty and Masters helped her through it.

“The first [Zoom], we were told we had to have a summer internship. Because of the pandemic, and my status as an international student, I didn’t know if I’d be able to get an internship, so I was a little stressed about that,” Ma said. “So, I asked Claire, ‘Can we talk?’ And she talked me through it. She acted like a psychiatrist. Talking to her made me feel better about it.

“The second [Zoom], I was offered my first internship, and I only had 48 hours to accept it, and I panicked,” Ma continued. “I emailed [Claire}: ‘I just got an offer, and I don’t know what to do.’ And she had just had a baby, and I felt bad about approaching her. But she said, ‘I have some time in the afternoon.’ She basically talked me through the whole thought process.”

“She counsels a lot of students on how to handle stress,” Ma said. “I feel she’s always there for the students.”

Rahma Ahmed likewise felt lost her first semester. But after an administrative internship last summer at Stanford Children’s Health/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Ahmed will be a Pediatric Administrative Leadership Fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School once she graduates. As she did with Ma, Masters helped reassure Ahmed and walked her through the process.

“Stanford was my first choice, Boston was my second choice, and I hadn’t heard anything,” said Ahmed, who is also a Solomon Center Student Fellow for Health Law and Policy. “In January, I sent Claire an email. I told her I don’t have an internship, and I’ve done everything right, and I don’t know what to do. She said, ‘Let’s chat.’ And that week, I got accepted at Stanford.

“With Claire and Howie,” she added, “it’s not just steering you and giving guidance, but that they’re cheering your accomplishments. They have your best interests at heart. The thing about Claire is that she’s genuine and down to earth. She’s a nice person.”

Vicki Clarke concurs. Last summer, Clarke was an administrative intern at the Cleveland Clinic’s Emergency Services Institute. She’ll return there after she graduates to complete her administrative fellowship.

“I feel [Claire] is someone I can always rely on, who I can talk to as an academic and as a person,” Clarke said of Masters. “She always gives good advice, and she’s very personable.”

“She was instrumental in sending out opportunities like this to me,” Clarke continued. “When it came time to submit a résumé and a cover letter, she helped me put it together. She was great about connecting me with people who worked [at the Cleveland Clinic].”

A Humbling Experience

Masters came to YSPH in March 2018 after three years as a project coordinator/research associate at the Yale School of Medicine. She brought with her another intangible: empathy. As someone who annually shepherds hundreds of students stressed out about their future careers, empathy comes in handy. Masters attributes the trait to her parents.

“My dad, Ian, was/is a large-animal veterinarian,” she explained. “To do that job, you have to be compassionate, working with patients who will never be able to talk to you about what’s wrong with them. You have to empathize completely. My mother, Anne, a teacher, is an absolutely remarkable person. She’s regularly been described by her students as one of their favorite teachers. She’s the most selfless person I’ve ever known in my life.”

Masters has a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and a master’s degree in Health Policy, both from the University of Sydney. Prior to coming to Yale, she worked for many years for NSW Health, at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, and eventually became a project officer for clinical trials.

Master’s speaks fondly of her current role helping Yale students succeed.

“You’re almost in this caretaker role,” she said. “Working with these students is a very humbling experience. Many of these students have lived extraordinary lives before they get to Yale. Howie and I will remember them long after they leave.” “I’ve never thought of myself as a teacher,” she said. “But I feel I’m falling into that role. Howie and I often talk about our students, and I always love it when they surprise me and turn into the best version of themselves.”