Supply Chain Experts Discuss Challenges at Stonehill Event

On March 17, more than 100 supply chain professionals, faculty and students gathered on campus to discuss the outlook for the healthcare supply chain and potential career opportunities. In addition, those gathered received a presentation from recently retired Mass General Brigham executive William Butler on the crucial role of negotiation skills in the field and beyond.

Hosted by Stonehill’s Meehan School of Business and its Healthcare Supply Chain Management Initiative, the event serves both to satisfy NESHMM’s educational mission and to supplement the many unique opportunities Stonehill provides to students as they explore career opportunities.

“The healthcare supply chain is evolving at a more rapid pace than ever and NESHMM is interested in ensuring that the next generation understands the past and is well prepared to take on the future,” said Gennady Beyzarov, NESHMM Education Committee chair and a supply chain manager at Boston Children’s Hospital. “A well-rounded education should include both theoretical and practical real world elements and connecting students with a spectrum of professionals contributes to that.”

Over the past decade, Stonehill’s Healthcare Supply Chain Management Initiative, under the leadership of Professor Mitchell Glavin, has developed a very strong working relationship with the NESHMM professional organization. NESHMM is the New England chapter of the nationwide Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management. Stonehill students and faculty routinely participate, as complimentary guests, in NESHMM activities such as their annual fall dinner held in Randolph and their February networking get-together held in Foxborough.

“Students need technical and leadership skills,” said Glavin. “Yet, when we’re talking about making crucial choices about how we develop systems and how we coordinate them, you also have to have the ability to think about the humanistic aspect as well. Our graduates have both when they go forward.”

Since launching in 2008, the Healthcare Supply Chain Management Initiative has worked with the key players in the supply chain – manufacturers, vendors, distributors, group purchasing organizations, healthcare providers, consulting firms, and more – to introduce important supply chain management concepts and challenges into the curriculum of Stonehill’s Healthcare Administration Program. 

Students have been able to do related internships with a variety of organizations, and graduates have gone on to pursue careers in healthcare supply chain management. As of 2021, students completing the major in Healthcare Administration can now complete a 4-course concentration in Healthcare Supply Chain Management.

This was the third time that Stonehill has hosted a NESHMM event on campus, and there is every indication that this NESHMM Spring Educational Event has found a perennial home at Stonehill.