Kerryn Ireland-Jenkin

Clinical lead, Victorian Perinatal Autopsy Service, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Victoria; anatomical pathologist, Austin Health

The course

Deakin University MBA

The impetus Pathologist Kerryn Ireland-Jenkin was two years into her Master of Clinical Leadership at Deakin University in 2015 when she decided to bolt on an MBA. Across the two degrees, she estimates that she did about half her study via Deakin’s online Cloud Campus and half as residential study units. The ability to study online let her combine her studies with work and being a mother to two young children. “I thought it was good for them to see that learning is a lifelong opportunity and even their parents can go back to uni and acquire some new skills,” says Ireland-Jenkin, who had already earned bachelors of medicine and surgery and a specialist qualification in anatomical pathology. “And I wanted to give myself the opportunity to look at leadership and management roles.” ↓

The impact Ireland-Jenkin was worried that her medical background might be a drawback when MBA studies got deep into the weeds of business but “I found the whole process much easier and more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be,” she says. As she’d hoped, “other opportunities have opened up and my position at The Royal Women’s Hospital is largely a clinical governance role”. She says she feels far better equipped for the role with her MCL and MBA qualifications. “Health care is such a complex environment… it has allowed me to span that boundary between management and clinical care. I have a real passion for writing health guidelines and policy and the MBA has helped me there, too – to align policy with strategic objectives.” ↓ The juggle “The Deakin MBA is a very flexible model, which worked for me. I had times when

THE WISDOM

“IT MADE ME MORE CONFIDENT IN MY OWN SKILL SET AND READY TO LOOK AT OTHER OPPORTUNITIES.” I just did one subject and other times when I did two or three at once. I could slow it down when I wanted.”

The learning “It’s given me an appreciation for mentoring. I realise that you can help someone change their mindset just by being a good co-worker and taking them out for a coffee, perhaps help them to redefine some of the problems they’re facing. That’s something you can do really easily and it sometimes helps just as much as the big-change projects.”