Saldanha awarded $40K HCA Corris Boyd Scholarship

August 23, 2019

Violetta Saldanha

As the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health kicks off fall semester, incoming Master of Health Administration student Violetta Saldanha is ahead of the game. Over the summer, she was awarded the $40,000 HCA Corris Boyd Scholarship from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and HCA Healthcare.

The national scholarship, which is highly competitive, honors a health care leader who dedicated his life to diversity and excellence in leadership – especially among people of color.  Corris Boyd was a senior executive with HealthTrust Purchasing Group and HCA, and he championed the success of minority- and women-owned businesses through strategic partnerships.

Saldanha is the third scholarship recipient from UNC’s Department of Health Policy and Management since the Scholars Program was established in 2006. Her recognition was based on her leadership qualities, academic achievements, community involvement, and commitment to health care and health care management as a career path. The $40,000 scholarship will support her tuition and other expenses over the next two years.

“We are thrilled that Violetta was selected as this year’s Corris Boyd Scholar by AUPHA and HCA,” said Paula Song, PhD, associate professor of health policy and management at the Gillings School. “This honor recognizes Violetta’s health care management leadership potential and her clear commitment to improving quality of care for vulnerable populations.”

A 2018 graduate of the Lehman College of the City University of New York, Saldanha has proven her dedication to improving health care administration both in and out of the classroom. She interned at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital and Montefiore Medical Group, and also traveled to Jamkhed, India, to work with the Comprehensive Rural Health Program and learn about innovative methods of global health care.

“I am so honored to be selected as the Corris Boyd Scholar and to attend a program as prestigious as UNC’s,” Saldanha said. “Being a minority and coming from a huge city like New York, I hope to learn how to transform minority patient experiences in urban hospitals. I want to do this by analyzing behavioral health care patterns I have witnessed firsthand, such as under-resourced hospitals and a lack of representation in health care systems. My ultimate goal is to work with low-income communities to reduce health care disparities.”

Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.