Anitra Karthic
Anitra Karthic, MD-MHA Candidate
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
STARS Spotlight: Bridging Clinical Care and Health System Leadership
Why I Developed This Role
I came to medical school, like many students, driven by a desire to care deeply for patients and to practice medicine with integrity. Early on, I believed that doing right by patients meant mastering clinical knowledge and delivering excellent bedside care. What I had not yet appreciated was how profoundly health system design shapes what physicians are able to do for patients.
During my first year, I was introduced to high-value care. Rather than feeling like a new idea, it gave language to values I already held: minimizing harm and aligning care with what matters most to patients. With a peer, I helped develop a three-part high-value care curriculum for our preclinical class at Ohio State. Teaching these principles and studying their impact reinforced my belief that value-based thinking belongs early in medical education.
As I entered clinical training, however, I began to see a deeper tension. I loved patient care, but I also saw how system constraints like time pressure, fragmented workflows, and misaligned incentives often made it harder to practice in ways that aligned with physicians’ values. This led me to ask whether gaps in care reflect knowledge deficits alone, or whether they stem from systems clinicians are not trained to navigate or influence.
Rather than ignoring this dissonance, I chose to explore it. I pursued a Master of Health Administration alongside my medical degree to better understand how strategy, operations, and policy shape clinical practice, and I joined the Choosing Wisely STARS national task force to study how medical students across the country experience high-value care education. These experiences ultimately motivated me to craft a fellowship in value-based care designed to bridge clinical training and health system leadership so that I am not only prepared to care for patients, but also equipped to understand, navigate, and improve the systems in which that care occurs.
How I Developed the Role
This fellowship emerged through a combination of mentorship, persistence, and alignment with institutional priorities that began in September 2024. I had open conversations with faculty mentors about my interests in value-based care, quality, safety, and systems improvement, which led to introductions to health system leaders and physicians who were eager to engage students more meaningfully. I also worked with them to secure funding and finalized the details in March 2025. (I think the secret sauce behind all of this was being a curious student – a lot of them were surprised I even knew about value.)
My primary mentor and I worked together to design a role that allows me to contribute as a learner by working on real projects tied to physician engagement, value measurement, and improvement strategy. Key steps included identifying a clear value proposition for the health system, securing sponsorship from senior leadership, and defining scope and expectations aligned with my training goals.
What I’m Working on Now
Currently, I work closely with the Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer on developing and implementing a physician-facing value dashboard designed to make cost and quality data actionable at the point of care. I am also working with the Medical Director of Enhanced Surgical Recovery who is an anesthesiologist (this is the specialty I’m interested in) to support ERAS protocol expansion, bring patient outcomes to all clinicians, and contribute to quality initiatives. With each project, I have also been able to connect with members of the supply chain, finance, and IT teams, which has been eye-opening.
What I have learned is this: value-based transformation at the macro-level is messy and does not begin with policy or vision alone. It begins with people: building trust, generating buy-in, and shared language so all parties involved are satisfied with the outcomes.
Impact on My Career Development
This experience has totally changed how I see my role as a future physician. I now understand that engaging systems is not separate from caring for patients – it’s part of caring for them well. Working alongside leaders has given me practical skills, mentorship, and confidence to ask better questions and participate more constructively across siloes in improvement efforts.
As I look toward finishing medical school and entering residency, I feel more prepared to practice medicine with a systems mindset, advocate for patients within complex environments, and collaborate across disciplines and clinical hierarchies to improve care.
STARS has shown me the power of student-led, values-driven change and the responsibility we have to speak up, ask hard questions, and imagine better ways forward. I hope sharing this experience encourages you to seek out mentorship and explore ways to engage with health systems leadership. Roles like this don’t require prior expertise…just curiosity, humility, and a commitment to improving care for patients!
Anitra Karthic is a dual-degree MD-MHA student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine with a strong interest in anesthesia, high-value care, quality improvement, and health system leadership. She is currently completing a dean-approved fellowship year working alongside senior health system leaders at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where she is building and implementing a physician-facing value dashboard, contributing to quality and safety initiatives, and supporting system-level improvement efforts.