Nurez Madhany’s path to his public health career didn’t begin until he was nearly 20 years into a career in hospitality, managing restaurants and owning a club in Atlanta. But he knew he wanted to do something different, and he knew he wanted to help people.
He started researching opportunities in different fields, making contacts and connections in the healthcare field online and ultimately moving in the direction of public health.
“Public health seemed like a way to gain an overarching body of knowledge that would allow me to apply my skills that I picked up over the years, after graduating college and then running businesses and a consulting company, as a way to help others,” Madhany said.
Madhany looked at several public health schools in the Southeast before choosing Georgia State. He got the chance to meet Rodney Lyn, now the Dean of the School of Public Health, and soon became his advisee when he enrolled in 2010.
“Georgia State made me really feel like I wasn’t just going to be a number,” Madhany said. “At Georgia State, it felt like the students were the primary focus, not just research.”
Building on a Business Background
Lyn helped Madhany see how he could advance in public health as well as find opportunities to earn certificates in Disaster Management and Nonprofit Management. With his business background, Madhany soon learned that managing operations in public health wasn’t that much different than operations in the hospitality industry. For instance, he was already used to working with health departments and following their guidelines in his prior businesses.
“Georgia State further developed and broadened my knowledge base so I could do it on a bigger scale,” he said.
As such, Madhany said it was easy for him to connect the dots and try to think outside of the box from a business perspective, which served him well not only in school but also as he entered the public health workforce.
Madhany graduated from Georgia State in 2012 with an MPH with a concentration in Health Management and Policy. After graduating, he moved back to Central Florida to be near his family and took a job with the American Cancer Society (ACS) on its primary care team, looking at care gaps through a cancer lens and helping close those gaps with healthcare providers across a 10-county area.
He delivered presentations on continuous quality improvement and evidence-based cancer screening strategies designed to have a broad population impact. He worked closely on projects around colorectal cancer and was one of the primary developers of the Colonoscopy Needs Calculator at the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable’s Learning Center.
After about seven years with ACS, Madhany moved to the Director of Quality position within True Health, a private, non-profit community health center serving low-income, uninsured, underinsured and underserved populations in Central Florida. At the beginning of 2022, he was promoted to Chief Operations Officer of the organization.
The Operations of Helping People
In his COO role, Nurez provides executive oversight to True Health’s Operations, Outreach and Enrollment, Medical Records and Referrals, Call Center, Information Technology, and Facilities departments.
“Everything I do, everything I have to look at, every dollar we spend, is through the lens of how it is going to affect our 50,000 patients and, more generally, the Central Florida community,” Madhany said. “Because at any given time, those who have private or employer-provided healthcare could become uninsured and need our services, so we are there for them at that time.”
Madhany can lean on both his business background and public health studies and looks at the built environment around his patients to find what is causing patients to not fulfill their health needs.
“It’s asking, ‘Why aren’t you going to primary care? Why are you only going to the ER?’ and realizing, well, if there's no primary facility in their neighborhood or they don’t have access to transportation, or don't have time off work, that all makes a big difference and will drive healthcare outcomes,” he said.
Madhany still goes back to lessons he learned at Georgia State from founding School of Public Health Dean and Regents’ Professor Michael Eriksen, particularly on how to craft his agency’s messaging in a way that resonates with their target audiences. Madhany has built ties with community leaders in the communities he serves – and not just at the local government level.
To reach those most vulnerable to colorectal cancer, for instance, Madhany took his message into barbershops, churches and businesses already ingrained within a community.
“Whether it's a politician or a community leader or a pastor or a barber that you're talking to, going to trusted places and partnering with trusted community members who can address these issues in the language the community speaks is crucial,” he said.
The Power of Putting Yourself Out There
Madhany credits his background at Georgia State for the perspective he has now when it comes to serving communities in Central Florida. His data analyses have helped True Health better plan for when and where to open new service lines and direct resources.
He has found his passion and his place to make a difference.
“I love what I do, I love operations,” he said. “I love being able to get in at the front-line level as needed while still having the ability to lead and make policy decisions for our organization and work with our community leaders to best serve our community, our patients and our staff.”
For students looking to enter the public health field, either as a first or second career, Madhany has the same advice.
“It’s up to you to network, and that can be your key,” he said. “Imagine the job you want to do and find these people and learn what it took for them to get where you want to go, and work backwards from there.
“But know that you have to have that intrinsic desire to help and be of assistance while continuing to learn. You have to put yourself out there.”