By: Allison Currie
Recognizing the clear alignment and wealth of possibilities associated with such a partnership, the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub first recruited students from the Dalhousie University MBA program in the fall of 2021. The collaboration was so successful that students continued to join the team in 2023 and 2024, with several transitioning to full-time roles.
Meet MBA student and 2024 Health Innovation Hub intern Matthew Berghuis.
Tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Matt Berghuis and I’m an MBA student at Dalhousie University. I have just completed my eight-month corporate residency at the Health Innovation Hub. Prior to starting the MBA, I was a junior high and elementary school teacher for five years. I grew up in Truro, Nova Scotia, and lived in New Brunswick, Toronto and Vietnam before moving back to Halifax a few years ago.
Who or what inspires you?
It’s random, but I love hearing stories about artists, comedians and musicians who make their craft their life’s work. I read the “early life” section on Wikipedia and connect the dots of how people get their big breaks, which seems to be usually through sticking to their craft, hard work and luck. Yesterday, for example, I was reading about Norah Jones, then about Kendrick Lamar. I used to read all the bios of the cast of Saturday Night Live when I was younger. I love the arts, so I guess it makes sense.
What attracted you to the MBA program at Dalhousie?
I’m a Halifax resident so I was super happy to get into a program right at home. I also think people learn best by doing, so the corporate residency stood out to me.
What attracted you to the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub?
At the beginning of the MBA, a bunch of different folks from Dalhousie’s corporate residency partner organizations came and spoke to our class to tell us about their work. One of these groups was the Health Innovation Hub, and their energy was contagious. I think it comes from a sense of mission to improve people’s lives. I thought working here would be a great way for me to transition to the business world from the education world, where, like the Health Innovation Hub, there’s a drive to make a difference.
What do you feel was your greatest learning or achievement while at the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub?
I would say managing my own workload – you’re a lot more independent in this role than any job I’ve had, so it’s been an adjustment to manage my files, meetings and time according to the work I’m getting and the goals of the organization. I also better understand just how complex the healthcare system is, and how much work it takes to make an initiative go from idea to action, and that it can be done.
What do you think the future of healthcare innovation looks like?
Based on work here I’ve seen with precision medicine, I think it’ll have a lot to do with using genetics to offer more tailored treatments for everything. I also see digital health being huge, with artificial Intelligence powering diagnosis and treatment options. I also think healthcare innovation in the future will be collaborative and holistic, with minds from health, data science, business and other fields coming together to come up with solutions we can’t even fathom yet.
What are your ideal next steps on your educational/career path?
One step at a time! I need to finish the MBA. I have one more year of classes and I want to focus and knock it out of the park. I’m chatting with people in a variety of careers now and exploring my post-grad options. Whatever it is, I know I’ll draw on the perspective and skills I’ve gained at the Health Innovation Hub.
