Meghan Spell, Daytime MBA 2024
I am on the growth and strategy team of Optum Genomics, a corporate strategy group at UnitedHealth Group focused on accelerating the precision medicine industry. When I graduated from Fuqua, I joined UnitedHealth Group through the UnitedHealth Group Leadership Experience Program.
Prior to Fuqua, I began my career as an associate attorney in the medical malpractice defense and health care regulatory groups of a large corporate defense firm in Louisiana. I left the corporate legal world to join safety net health care systems as its director of compliance.
While at Fuqua, I served as a summer associate at the Gates Foundation on the health funds and partnerships team.
I earned my MBA from Fuqua, B.S. in human ecology: family, child and consumer sciences and Juris Doctor/Doctor of Civil Law from Louisiana State University. Additionally, I am a graduate of the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program and the Kellogg School of Management Product Management Program.
When researching business schools, I knew that I wanted to be somewhere that had a supportive culture. Relationships have always been one of the most important things in my life, and being in an environment that encouraged collaboration and teamwork was a top priority. Learning about Team Fuqua solidified that Fuqua was the best fit for me.
During my time as a student, I frequently experienced Team Fuqua in action and formed meaningful relationships with numerous parts of the Fuqua community. The Team Fuqua spirit is what continues to drive my connections with my classmates, professors, colleagues, and current Fuqua students.
Finding Fuqua Connections at Work
When I graduated from Fuqua, I joined UnitedHealth Group’s (UHG) leadership experience program, a two-year rotation program designed to cultivate the next generation of UHG leaders through unique exposure, experiences, and development opportunities. One of the things that most attracted me to UHG is the number of Fuqua alumni in the program. From helping with first-round interview preparation to evaluating the different rotation opportunities, the Fuqua alumni were instrumental in offering their insights and extending their network and resources.
Since joining UHG, I started a quarterly Fuqua Friday as an informal mechanism for us to interact with and get to know each other. Although it’s virtual and we unfortunately don’t have any chicken tenders, it’s been a great way for us to foster community in an organization with more than 450,000 employees.
Meghan Spell, a Duke Fuqua alumna, and her UnitedHealth Group colleagues at a Fuqua recruiting event
Recruiting and Other Campus Visits
Another way I’ve remained involved with Fuqua is by returning to campus whenever a recruiting opportunity exists. I’ve participated in the Health Sector Management (HSM) Bootcamp, the Duke MBA Health Care Club’s annual conference, company presentations, coffee chats, and interviews.
I always look forward to being back on campus so I can interact with current students as well as catch up with mentors, advisors, and professors, such as fellow attorney and avid reader John Buley, health care guru Peter Ubel, and social entrepreneurship leader Erin Worsham, who played a pivotal role in my experience. One particularly fond memory is being at the Health Care Club Conference when three of my classmates, Mahek Chhatrapati, Gordon Silverman, and Andrei Assa, were discussing their company DocNexus as that year’s keynote speaker. Another is returning to campus for the HSM Bootcamp with my section mate, Tess Rodriguez, and Emma Breithaupt, who spent her summer internship on my second rotation’s team.
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