Alum Guides Students Pursuing Careers in Consulting.
Alum Guides Students Pursuing Careers in Consulting
Leah Magid (SPH’17), a senior manager at IQVIA, is a point of contact for SPH students interested in careers in consulting, helping to provide mentorship and guidance throughout the job search and interview processes.
Throughout her time at the School of Public Health, alum Leah Magid (SPH’17) admits that she felt lost. She knew where her public health interests lay, but she did not know an exact career path to get there, and was often left feeling like she had more questions than answers.
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Now, as a senior manager at IQVIA, a global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services for the healthcare industry, Magid has stayed connected with the Career and Practicum Office at SPH to help students interested in consulting work find and navigate their own career paths.
“In public health, we can be overwhelmed with this idea that the natural career move after our MPH is working at a hospital, department of health, or NGO. While these are all great career paths, they weren’t what I was interested in, and I imagine a lot of current students can relate to this same feeling,” says Magid. “I want to help students explore their options and find a path that works for them. The process to find your career intimidating and not always clear, so I want to be able to support students and alumni in whatever way I can.”
As an MPH student, Magid began working at IQVIA through her practicum experience with the Strategy Consulting Team. She was hired on as an associate consultant after graduating from SPH, and has been working her way up through the ranks ever since. In her current role, Magid works to establish strategic expertise in the consumer healthcare space, supporting companies in shifting their approach in a more science-driven and innovative direction. She also oversees the day-to-day operations of IQVIA’s Cell and Gene Therapy Center, where she drives the development of IQVIA’s patient-tailored offerings for these therapies.
Magid enjoys the interdisciplinary nature of her work, as well as the opportunity to solve complex problems through innovation on a day-to-day basis. She says that the critical thinking skills she gained throughout her time at SPH have been essential for bringing a public health lens to all aspects of her work.
“No matter what problem we are trying to solve, we always want to be thinking about our stakeholders, the people who will be seeking these therapies,” she says. “This idea can get lost at times because of a focus on business assessments, for example, but when you approach the work from a public health perspective, you are bringing it back to the patients, caregivers, treaters, and our health systems. Thinking about and addressing nuances like socioeconomic background and demographic differences by region, allows us to provide really thoughtful and impactful recommendations to our clients.”
This person-centered perspective is one that IQVIA has long valued, and over the last four years, Magid has been leading recruitment efforts at SPH to bring students to the company. In partnership with the Career and Practicum Office, Magid has worked to facilitate IQVIA information sessions on campus, and has attended a number of career and practicum fairs, as well as other networking opportunities for students.
She has also positioned herself as a point of contact for SPH students interested in IQVIA and consulting work, in general, answering questions about consulting in the field, mentoring students throughout the practicum and job search processes, and helping them prepare for interviews with consulting firms across the country.
“There is a lot of talent at SPH, and I want to help students interested in consulting work understand how to apply the skills they’ve gained throughout their program to a corporate setting,” says Magid, highlighting that she hopes to be able to provide a resource for students that she felt was missing when she was a student at SPH. “I would not have gotten my practicum or job at IGVIA without the help of the Career and Practicum Office, but I still had a lot of unanswered questions that I wish I could have talked to someone about. I hope I can help to fill in some of these gaps and ease the process for students interested in pursuing a career in consulting.”
Magid says that working with SPH students over the years has been a really gratifying and fulfilling process. “The students at SPH are incredibly driven, so to be a part of their career journey, even in small ways, is a really great feeling,” she says. “It is my way of giving back to a community that gave me so much.”
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