For our alumni newsletter, we talk to former students about their time at ESHPM and their subsequent careers. In this edition, we follow Kailesh Bansi, from his early days as a Biomedical Sciences student to his current position as an information architect at the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation (IKNL).
You have had an unusual career path for a Health Policy & Management alumnus. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
Most alumni do indeed go on to become consultants or policymakers. That鈥檚 why I don鈥檛 see many fellow alumni in my field of work. That might have something to do with my background. I sort of stumbled into the programme by chance. I鈥檇 failed the Biomedical Sciences programme in Amsterdam and wanted to do something else. A friend of mine was studying for a bachelor's degree in Gezondheidswetenschappen, BMG (Health Policy & Management) in Rotterdam and asked if that might be something I鈥檇 be interested in as well. It was practically the opposite of Biomedical Sciences: from the micro level to the macro level.
At first, I liked the fact that Gezondheidswetenschappen was so multidisciplinary. We explored different perspectives on healthcare 鈥 things you wouldn鈥檛 know as an ordinary member of the public. Take Dunning鈥檚 funnel, for instance, which is used to assess whether new treatments should be included in the basic health insurance package. Concepts like that are very useful, wherever you end up working in the medical sector.
However, what initially seemed like an advantage 鈥 the broad scope 鈥 actually turned out to be a pitfall for me later on. We didn鈥檛 explore subjects in great depth, which I thought was a shame. I struggled to finish my thesis, and it took me five years to obtain my bachelor's degree.
Nevertheless, you went on to do a master's degree in Healthcare Policy Innovation Management in Maastricht.
Yes, that was a bit more鈥 hands-on. They specifically looked at the innovation aspect, and that suited me better. For example, the programme dealt with new treatments that needed to be incorporated into policy 鈥 at the national, international or even European level. At the time, we looked at the use of ketamine as an antidepressant. It had already been used in this way in Spain and the United States for a while, and we looked into how it might be incorporated into Dutch policy. Really interesting stuff!
And then, towards the end of the academic year, the coronavirus pandemic hit and everything shut down. I suddenly found myself back at my parents鈥 house in Zoetermeer. Fortunately, I was able to complete my thesis, but I鈥檇 failed one course and had to retake it the following year to obtain my master's degree.
As I didn鈥檛 have much to do for the rest of that year, I decided to look for a job. Although most job vacancies called for a completed master's degree, one employer was willing to offer me a position: the Association of Health Care Providers for Health Care Communication (VZVZ). At VZVZ, they told me: 鈥淲e鈥檙e hiring you for a position appropriate for someone who has completed senior secondary vocational education, but we鈥檒l include a clause in your contract stating that you鈥檒l be moved to a different position as soon as you obtain your master's degree.鈥 That came at exactly the right time. I started working as a project manager鈥檚 assistant with a wide variety of duties, from setting up meetings and organising symposia to elaborating drafts.
I realised that my ambition lay precisely in that process of elaborating. After all, that was what I鈥檇 been trained to do. By the time I obtained my master's degree, I鈥檇 carried out a thorough analysis of the organisation and the positions within it. This caught my colleagues鈥 attention, and I found myself talking to business and solution architects within the organisation. What they did was so detailed and yet simultaneously so comprehensive that I immediately told my manager: I want to become an architect. After a kind of taster placement and the necessary programmes and courses, I became a business architect.
But that was not the end of your journey. You now work somewhere else.
Yes, at one point I saw a job vacancy at the IKNL. They were looking for an information architect, which was even more my cup of tea. Whereas business architects focus on the why and how of the organisation, information architects focus more on the what of the data. In other words, they go into even greater detail.
Do you still find your bachelor's degree useful in your current position?
In the end, a lot of the knowledge I gained during my studies turned out to be useful after all. It鈥檚 really useful to understand how our health care system is organised and what the landscape looks like. It鈥檚 incredibly fragmented. The fact that I understand the legal side of things is useful as well, of course, because we鈥檙e now seeing a great number of policies being initiated at the European level, such as the European Health Data Space (EHDS). That鈥檚 going to create a lot of work, so it鈥檚 good to have been introduced to it already during your programme. I think it鈥檚 unfortunate that, at the time, I didn鈥檛 see all the options my degree presented. That made it more difficult to take the next steps.
What advice would you give to alumni who are now entering the labour market?
Some people may already know exactly what they want, but if you鈥檙e still trying to work out what suits you, I鈥檇 say: just try things out! Even though my first position was at senior secondary vocational education level, I did gain a great deal of relevant experience there.
What I often notice among young people in our organisation is that they immediately fall in line with the mindset of the rest of the group, but what we need are new perspectives and a fresh outlook. Ask questions, share your views when there鈥檚 room to do so, show initiative and be creative and unique. Your ideas might be exactly what your managers are looking for. So, what I鈥檇 like to say to recent graduates is this: don鈥檛 just become like everyone else 鈥 stay curious and inquisitive. Search for jobs based on your areas of interest, rather than solely by job titles. That way, you鈥檒l be sure to end up doing something that really suits you.
In conversation with鈥 you?
If you have any special memories of your time at SAG/iBMG/ESHPM that you would like to share with fellow alumni, or you have chosen an interesting career path since completing your programme, get in touch with us by sending an email to alumni@eshpm.eur.nl.
