Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Connecticut, Tasmeen Shiny Weerakoon, MPH '19, was helping manage outpatient clinical operations at the Yale School of Medicine.
But that all changed in March as waves of COVID-19 patients began arriving in emergency departments throughout the Yale New Haven Health System. Weerakoon was quickly reassigned to assist with the local pandemic response, a process she found both exhilarating and a little overwhelming.
“I’m collaborating with people in the health care system I never collaborated with before,” said Weerakoon. “This is health care innovation and implementation at its finest and for this, I am proud of our internal talent and inspired to do more.”
As part of her new assignment, Weerakoon is working to convert nearly 1,000 daily outpatient visits to video interactions as part of the Health System’s COVID-19 Telehealth initiative. She is also collaborating with the Yale Child Study Center in planning child care arrangements in support of essential healthcare workers. Lastly, she is managing rapidly evolving supply chain requests at each Yale Medicine outpatient site.
This is health care innovation and implementation at its finest.
Tasmeen Shiny Weerakoon, MPH '19
“We are all adopting multiple roles and responsibilities as needed in these uncertain times,” said Weerakoon, who credited her education at YSPH and the Yale School of Management with helping prepare her for the challenges presented by COVID-19.