Melissa Yandell, Ph.D., MHA, Enjoys Promoting Health Administration in Arkansas
| Melissa Yandell, Ph.D., MHA, enjoys being a faculty member for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health.
Yandell is an assistant professor and associate director of operations for the school’s Master of Health Administration program. She’s responsible for recruiting and advising students, teaching courses, serving as chair of the MHA evaluation committee, and being a liaison to the program’s alumni.
“My goal is to serve people the best that I can,” she said. “I want Arkansas to become a healthier state.”
FROM PLACE TO PLACE
Yandell spent most of her childhood in the Gulf Coast town of Saint Martin, Mississippi, located near Kessler Air Force Base, where her dad was stationed.
However, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina — a Category 5 storm — disrupted Yandell’s life.
Days before Katrina’s arrival, Yandell’s family evacuated their two-story home and headed to Florida. Initially, Yandell, who was a teen at the time, figured all would be fine, just like the other times they evacuated due to a hurricane. But then her family received word of how bad things were and how some of their neighbors who stayed didn’t survive. Once she and her family returned home, they found complete devastation.
“The situation made me think about what truly matters in life,” Yandell said. “My family was together, and we were alive. It made you appreciate those types of things so much more.”
“But we lost basically everything,” she said. “We had the clothes we evacuated with and a few boxes of photos that we took with us. That’s all we had. The flood waters went well into the second story of our home.”
With most of the Gulf Coast now lacking basic amenities, Yandell’s parents chose to relocate. The military temporarily moved the family to a base near Destin, Florida. However, in February 2006 they moved to Cabot, Arkansas, near the Little Rock Air Force Base, where her dad was now assigned.
“We lived in Mississippi for 12 years,” Yandell said. “To go from living 12 years near the Kessler base to being moved an entire state away, eight hours away from our family, that was hard. We’re very much family-oriented people. But we made the most of it.”
LIFE IN ARKANSAS
As a sophomore, Yandell transferred to Cabot High School.
Socially, Yandell blossomed in her new environment as she joined the school’s chess club, key club and Health Occupation Students of America chapter. She was also on the Cabot High dance team. Academically, Yandell excelled as she graduated in 2009, tied for 11 in a class of 500 students.
“My time at Cabot High was a huge blessing,” she said.
Following high school, Yandell attended the University of Central Arkansas majoring in biology, pre-med. Yandell minored in business due to her desire to become a physician who owned a family practice. She aspired to learn basic business concepts, especially in health care.
Yandell earned a bachelor’s degree from UCA in 2013. However, she had not yet figured out her next move. Yandell enjoyed her business courses, and while she still wanted employment in health care, she was no longer interested in working as a clinician. So, she researched ways that she could merge business and health into a career.
“I eventually discovered health care administration,” she said. “I then began researching health care administration careers and learned that UAMS had a Master of Healthcare Administration program, and I enrolled in it. The rest is history.”
Yandell began the MHA program in the fall of 2013.
“I had minor trepidations at first,” Yandell said. “My first year was nerve-racking. I just jumped into the classes and did my best.”
CONTINUED PROGRESS
Yandell, as she had done throughout her life academically, adapted and shined.
“That success did a lot to inspire me during my first year in the MHA program,” she said.
The inspiration was timely, as Yandell was helping care for her mother who had become ill. Unfortunately, she passed away during the spring semester of Yandell’s first year in the program.
“One aspect of my life, amazing things were happening,” she said. “But at home — things were tough.
“Going into the next school year it was hard. There was emotional turmoil from losing my mom. But I knew she wanted the best for me. She’s the one who pushed me into starting the MHA program when I did, after I graduated from UCA, instead of taking a gap year.”
The makeup of the program, and its emphasis on collaborative projects, helped Yandell during her bereavement. She built genuine friendships with her classmates. Fittingly, they supported Yandell during the times when she became saddened with thoughts of her mom.
“I’ll never forget their kindness,” she said. “It was an amazing group of people.”
Striving to honor her mom’s desire for her to obtain success, Yandell completed the program in 2015.
She was ready to enter the workforce. She’d step into the health care field as an administrative fellow for Baptist Health.
BECOMING A TRAILBLAZER
As a fellow at Baptist Health, Yandell created numerous procedures — including a graduate medical education program — while also handling financial management, accreditation applications and the recruiting of physicians and residents.
Yandell’s dedication led to her receiving an invitation to conduct a feasibility study about graduate medical education. Yandell accepted the researcher opportunity while still maintaining her duties as a fellow. She remained in the role, even after her time as a fellow was complete.
Eventually, she’d ascend to night administrator for a year.
Ultimately, that lead to her assuming the role as associate designated institutional official with the Baptist Health-UAMS Graduate Medical Education programs, a position she held for five years.
She managed the new graduate medical administration programs of the hospital’s North Little Rock campus. She also helped the programs get accreditation.
“Having the chance to address the looming physician shortage was amazing,” Yandell stated. “Providing Arkansas with new physicians was awesome.”
At this juncture of her life, Yandell decided to pursue the doctorate degree she always wanted.
In 2021, Yandell enrolled in the William Carey University (Miss.) health administration and education online doctoral program. Her ability to practice good time management received a stiff test.
“In addition to working full-time and working on my Ph.D., I was also a devoted wife and mother,” she said. “Our son was three when I began the program. There were times when I could not have fun playing with him because of school. I can remember it being a lot of late nights. A lot of studying. A lot of crying, too.”
All the while, Yandell began talks with Stephen Bowman, Ph.D., chair of the College of Public Health’s MHA program, about returning as a faculty member.
Eventually, Bowman offered Yandell a position on his team. The appeal of returning to UAMS was too much for Yandell to forgo.
“I love education,” she said. “I knew being an educator was something I wanted to do. But I never figured that this early in my career, that I’d be doing it.
“Leaving Baptist Health was extremely hard,” she said. “Those programs at Baptist Health were my baby. But returning to UAMS was like coming back home.”
In the fall 2023 semester, a few months after starting her faculty role, Yandell earned a health administration and education doctorate from William Carey.
A staunch Christian, community volunteer, mom and wife, Yandell credits her faith for helping her remain steadfast in service and obtaining success as she strives to make Arkansas a happy, healthy place for all people.
“I hold true to my values with the understanding that I will respect every person I interact with,” she said. “I respect everyone as a human being. But I’ll hold true to my values, too. It’s OK to work with, be cordial to people who don’t think like you.”