UCF Health Management and Informatics Department Welcomes New Faculty
The Department of Health Management and Informatics at the University of Central Florida has welcomed three new faculty members — Mark Bush, James Gillespie and Danielle Atkins — this academic year. Bush is a lecturer and the director of the Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration program while Gillespie and Atkins are assistant professors.
Bush joined the department from Kaiser University, where he served as the graduate department chair of health science. Bush joins UCF from Kaiser University, where he served as the graduate department chair of health science. He has also taught at Central Michigan University, Marylhurst University and Westwood University since 2011. Prior to working in higher education, Bush was the CEO of two acute care facilities and the CFO of a rural hospital as well as two long-term care facilities.
His research interests include finance and quality measures, market definitions for health care organizations and leadership. Bush's variety of interests and diverse experience give him a unique perspective, one that he hopes will prove valuable to faculty and students alike.
"Applying my 25 years of experience as a health care executive, I hope to provide a valuable perspective to the department and the students that will help them to successfully prepare for careers in the health care field," Bush said.
His new colleague Gillespie also brings a valuable perspective, having previously taught at a variety of universities, including Northwestern University and the Illinois Institute of Technology. His expertise lies in the management strategy and operations of the health care sector, while his research interests are analytics and informatics, diversity and inclusion, innovation and transformation, and social media.
Gillespie has also been published in a variety of publications, including the Academy of Management Review, the Harvard Business Review and the Strategic Management Journal.
While Gillespie and Bush both have backgrounds in health care, Atkins brings a more unique perspective to the department. She joined UCF from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she served as an assistant professor in the political science department. Prior to that, she earned her Master of Public Administration and her Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from the University of Georgia.
She currently studies health policy and is conducting several research projects related to her interests, including reproductive health, education policy, and maternal and child health. She has been published in a variety of journals including the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Management Review and Health Services Research.
This diverse background is something that she hopes to contribute to HMI. In fact, the different viewpoints of both faculty and students is something that makes Atkins glad that she joined the department.
“I’m excited to be in a program that focuses on health, but still has faculty and students with varied interests,” she said. “So we’re all moving toward a common goal but can learn from each other.”