Organizing Committee

Matthew Jirsa - Executive Chair, Founder

Matthew Jirsa is a current second-year MHSA candidate in the Health Management and Policy Department at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He has a Bachelors's Degree in Biology and Society from Cornell University where he was involved in various healthcare improvement and health policy initiatives. Matthew has held a previous internship at Stanford Healthcare and currently works remotely for Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also a recipient of the David Winston Health Policy Scholarship. In his free time, Matthew loves to hike, run, read and write healthcare journalism, and make music with friends. 

Payton Watt - HPSA President &  Structure and Case Development Lead

Payton Watt is a 2nd year dual degree MPH student studying Epidemiology & Health Management and Policy. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology, Health, and Society & Community Action and Social Change. During her undergraduate career she led an organization dedicated to connecting individuals experiencing homelessness to health and social services. Payton is passionate about community health, health reform, and expanding access to care. She is currently the President of HPSA, works for the Medical School on decreasing disparities in food allergy, and works for the HMP Department on curriculum development. In the future she hopes to spend her time on Medicaid policy, either at the payer or state level. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, running, traveling, and hosting game nights with friends.

Mike Michalski - HPSA Vice President & Marketing and Advertising Lead

Mike is currently a Master of Health Services Administration student at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. When not marketing the case competition, Mike works with the Science Learning Center at the University to increase online equity in virtual study groups. In his free time, Mike enjoys hiking, cross country skiing, and traveling with friends. He is extremely passionate about healthcare costs, volunteering in the healthcare system, and insurance plan structures. He currently resides in his hometown, Grand Haven, Michigan. 

Yamani Vinson - MHESA Leadership & Logistics Lead

Yamani Rikia Vinson is a Master of Health Services Administration (MHSA) candidate at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health (UM-SPH). Yamani is currently acting as the President of the Michigan Healthcare Executive Student Association (MHESA). As President, she oversees and coordinates all MHESA efforts across the executive board and committee chairs. Before coming to UM-SPH, she attended Michigan State University, where she studied Psychology and Spanish and has experience working in community-based participatory research. Yamani spent the summer of 2020 working for the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health and is currently working as the Graduate Student Staff Assistant for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office at the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work. Yamani is passionate about cultivating tools and processes to enhance value-based care and providing high-quality care to vulnerable populations.

Renny Ma - Fundraising and Sponsorship Lead

Renny Ma is a first-year Master of Health Services Administration student at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She is interested in the use of design and innovation to improve patient experiences and population health, and in the transition of the US healthcare system toward value-based care. Currently, she works as a member of the Improving Diagnosis in Emergency and Acute Care: A Learning Laboratory (IDEA-LL) research team, and serves as a Michigan Healthcare Executive Student Association (MHESA) Professional Development Co-Chair. 

Madeleine Peters - Fundraising and Sponsor Outreach Team

Madeleine is a second-year Masters of Health Services Administration candidate at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Biopsychology, Cognition, & Neuroscience from the University of Michigan in 2017. She currently is a member of the Michigan Healthcare Executive Student Association (MHESA) and a co-chair of the Corporate Relations committee. Her public health passions include improving access to quality and affordable health care, promoting women's and children's health, and expanding long-term care services.

Elizabeth Lusk - Logistics and Development Team 

Elizabeth Lusk is currently pursuing her Master of Health Services Administration at the University of Michigan. Her work experience with healthcare technology consulting prior to starting the program sparked a broader interest in business strategy and operations within healthcare, the career path she plans to explore after graduation. Her other industry interests include: patient and community health education, healthcare delivery through cross-functional teams, and the effective and ethical use of technology in healthcare. 

Nicole Kase - Marketing and Advertising Team 

Nicole is a first-year Master’s in Health Services Administration candidate at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. She was originally drawn to study public health because of its focus on equity by centralizing populations that have historically been underserved. In her prior career as a Program Coordinator at a FQHC in Rochester, NY, she was responsible for grant writing and management as well as research study coordination. As she advanced within the organization, she became a part of higher-level management conversations that piqued her interest in healthcare management-- and led her to Michigan. She is particularly passionate about ensuring financial sustainability among safety net providers so they can continue to serve priority populations. Her dream job would be to re-enter the community health space in a leadership role wherein she can continue to bridge gaps for marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ+ community, people who use drugs, and rural populations.

Brynna Thigpen -Structure and Case Development Team 

Brynna Thigpen is a first year MBA/MPP dual degree student focused on the intersection of policy and business in healthcare. Originally from Northern California, she first became passionate about public health while working with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in Cameroon in 2015. Motivated by this experience, she worked at a free clinic serving migrant farm workers at her undergraduate institution, UC Davis, before joining a global health advocacy group composed of members from across the University of California system. After graduating, she continued to work on global health and development projects in Senegal and Nicaragua, and interned with Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's policy and representation team in Washington, D.C. in 2018, where her specific passion for policy began. Most recently, she worked promoting immunizations in her role as Public Health Advisor for the CDC in Chicago. Following graduation from Michigan, she hopes to pursue health policy reform to expand access and equity, control costs, and increase quality. In her free time, she enjoys road biking, improving her film photography skills, and going to concerts (pre-pandemic). 

Tanisha Mittal - Structure and Case Development Team 

Tanisha Mittal completed her Bachelors of Engineering in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Mumbai, India with the highest distinction in 2019. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Health Services Administration in the Health Management and Policy program at the University of Michigan. Prior to graduate school, she has had a diverse set of experiences from designing virtual reality applications for chronic pain patients and for helping physically handicapped patients to use prosthetics to interning at the Ortho-Neuro outpatient department of Apollo Hospital, Mumbai. Currently, she is working as a Contact Tracer at the University of Michigan and completing a data visualization project with the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. She is also working towards publishing a research paper with ICART India based on a campus model for detecting COVID-19 infections in schools in India. Upon graduation, Tanisha hopes to work for a health system and further her interests in health IT and is open to any opportunities.

Sarah Kim - Structure and Case Development Team 

Sarah Kim is a junior at the University of Michigan School of Public Health pursuing a B.S. in Public Health Sciences and a minor in API/A Studies. She is part of the professional development committee within HPSA and is also involved in public health research through the university, along with several other student organizations on campus. In the future, she hopes to work in health policy or health administration with a particular interest in health insurance policy and developmental health. In her free time, she enjoys watching professional basketball and dancing.

Shreya Shruti Shah - Marketing and Advertising Team

After completion of her bachelor’s degree in dental surgery, Shreya like any other budding dentist fancied a job in a plush private setup as an orthodontist. The turning point in her life that steered her towards Health Management and Policy was her residency in the Department of Community Dentistry rural India where she firsthand experienced stark health disparity. After completion of her bachelor’s degree, Shreya was awarded a Fellowship in Aesthetic Dentistry’ by the ‘Institute of Laser & Aesthetic Medicine’, Germany. Shreya then went on to work at the helm of a non-profit, Angel Dentists’ Network as an administrator for a year. This past summer, Shreya worked as a governance and education intern at the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization to recalibrate current policies and procedure through meticulous deep dives of the by-laws, charter, and organization charts; and develop a set of recommendations for the Board to transition their in-person education courses to completely online platforms in the face of the pandemic.