HIT Like a Girl Pod: Empowering Women in Health IT

Guardians of Healthcare: A Journey from Caregiver to Cybersecurity Leader

·26 min·2 clips

Andrea convinced her boss to create a cybersecurity director role by getting her CISSP and arguing a $3.4 billion organization needed it.

Host Joy Rios introduces the episode by framing healthcare as a 30,000-piece puzzle, with each guest adding a piece. Guest Andrea Daugherty introduces herself as head of digital health at SHI, having joined nine months ago after a career on the provider side. She recounts her early exposure to healthcare through her mother, a nurse, and caring for her sister with type 1 diabetes and end-stage renal failure. Andrea started in pharmacy school but switched, landing at Cerner as a learning consultant during the CPOE era, training physicians on electronic health records. She moved into an integration architect role, then to a provider organization in LA, where she implemented a lab information system in 11 months and became manager. Andrea then negotiated a director of information security role by obtaining her CISSP certification and presenting a strategic roadmap. She later moved to University of Texas, building an information security program and leading a DevOps team that created a COVID contact tracing app from WHO Ebola outbreak code. Andrea discusses her transition to SHI, highlighting its culture as the largest privately held minority-owned business in the US and her all-female leadership team. She contrasts male-led and female-led IT environments, emphasizing empathy and support in female leadership. Andrea shares advice on confidence and authenticity for women in male-dominated spaces. The conversation shifts to cybersecurity, with examples of deep fake images impacting markets and phishing campaigns using e-cards and dating sites. Andrea explains SHI's goal to be a trusted IT solutions provider with industry experts. The episode ends with contact information and a call to action for listeners.

As heard by us

Andrea Daugherty connects health IT, cybersecurity, and women supporting women at SHI.

The episode follows Andrea Daugherty, SHI's head of digital health, as she reflects on moving from the provider side to the IT solution provider side in a fragmented healthcare system.

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Why you'd press play

You get a healthcare leader's path from the provider side into digital health, plus candid cybersecurity talk and real support-in-the-room energy.

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