Three MS in Health Care Transformation Alums Inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha

October 29, 2021

Please join the Value Institute for Health and Care in congratulating MS in Health Care Transformation alums and 4th year Dell Medical Students Kaylee O’Connor, Aya Rossano, and Ife Shoyombo. They have been inducted in Dell Medical School's newly created Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society.

Alpha Omega Alpha was founded in 1902 and strives to improve health care for all.

Induction into Dell Med's AOA chapter is competitive and based on excellence in leadership, community engagement, service, contributions that advance knowledge, and performance in clinical rotations. The selection committee was impressed with these students' records of accomplishment, and the Value Institute for Health and Care is very proud of our alums.

Kaylee O'Connor

Kaylee grew up in Fort Worth, Texas and attended the University of Alabama where she studied chemical engineering and social innovation. She is the first person in her family to go into medicine and decided halfway through college to pursue a career as a physician after working in nursing homes in rural Alabama with a group of psychiatrists and psychologists. She immediately recognized the vast health care disparities in our nation, which entangle aspects of race, socioeconomic status, and rural versus urban dwelling. Dell Med's mission to "rethink everything" and tackle the large problems our health care system faces attracted her to the institution.

Aya Rossano

Aya grew up in Bellevue, Washington, and moved to Texas to attend Rice University. At Rice, she pursued a degree in Kinesiology with a Sports Medicine concentration while competing in Division I athletics as a pole vaulter on the track & field team. She was drawn to the MS in Health Care Transformation program after participating in research enrollment at the Musculoskeletal Institute at UTHA in her first year of medical school. She recognized the value of optimization prior to elective surgery, and became curious about innovative payment models that incentivize better health for all patients. She aims to use the knowledge and experiences gained from the masters to challenge the current healthcare system and improve how patients achieve health.

Ife Shoyombo

Ife is a native of Lagos, Nigeria. He moved to the United States ten years ago and started a church with his father in Dallas. He discovered his passion for community and population health from his experience with less-privileged members of the Dallas community. In Dallas, he worked with Metrocrest and We Care Ministries to teach GRE to high school dropouts and engaged in follow-ups with incarcerated and homeless members of the Dallas community.

He obtained a bachelor's from the University of Dallas and a master's in public health from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Ife desires to provide altruistic and unbiased care and to serve without any socioeconomic barriers.