Rofiat Abubakar earns prestigious administrative fellowship at a top Texas hospital
Rofiat Abubakar
Rofiat Abubakar, a second-year Master of Health Administration student at UNT Health Fort Worth, has been selected for the 2027-2028 Administrative Fellowship at Houston Methodist, her first-choice program.
The 18-month fellowship will provide Abubakar with experience across Houston Methodist’s academic medical center, community hospitals and corporate services. During her first month, she will meet with health system executives and learn about the organization’s core values. She will also complete a rotation working alongside Houston Methodist’s CEO, gaining firsthand insight into executive leadership and assisting with strategic projects.
Abubakar’s path to health administration began with an interest in the relationship between organizational policies and health care outcomes. While studying global development and African studies at the University of Virginia, she explored how organizational decisions can influence access to and delivery of care.
After graduating, she returned to her hometown of Houston, where she worked in organizational development for an energy company, focusing on employee retention. She later joined a refugee resettlement agency, helping individuals and families access resources such as career development, housing services and health care.
Through that experience, she became increasingly interested in the operational side of health care and how organizational decisions shape the patient experience. A former colleague learned of Abubakar’s interest in health care management and improving access to care and connected her with her father, a senior hospital executive. The introduction marked Abubakar’s first formal exposure to health administration and inspired her to pursue an MHA.
One course that has particularly shaped her experience at UNT Health is Continuum of Care, taught by instructor Emily Belew.
“One of my most formative courses in the MHA program has been Continuum of Care,” Abubakar said. “We explore the different settings in which patients receive care, from home health and surgical care to long-term acute facility care, and examine the patient’s journey beyond the traditional hospital setting.”
Outside the classroom, Abubakar serves as president of the Healthcare Administration Student Association (HASA) and is a member of the MHA program’s alumni advisory board. She credits the program’s faculty support and professional development opportunities, including HASA’s peer mentorship program, with helping prepare her for the next step in her career.
That preparation proved valuable throughout the competitive fellowship selection process, which included multiple interviews, beginning with an initial conversation with current administrative fellows.
Abubakar also drew on lessons from Dr. Briscoe’s Insurance and Managed Care course when asked about potential challenges hospital CEOs should consider in their leadership roles.
“Thanks to Dr. Briscoe’s course, I felt prepared to discuss health insurance as a common barrier to accessing care,” she said. “Understanding how insurance affects patients and health care organizations helped me approach the question from an administrative perspective.”
Houston Methodist’s flagship hospital is ranked No. 1 in Texas and is one of 20 hospitals nationwide named to the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll.
As she prepares to begin the fellowship, Abubakar looks forward to broadening her understanding of health care leadership while remaining grounded in the values that first drew her to the field.
“The fellowship gives me the opportunity to explore health care as a whole,” she said. “In a few years, I hope to be in a position where I can continue giving back to others while contributing to the values most important to me.”
Abubakar looks forward to building on the knowledge and experiences gained at UNT Health as she takes this next step toward becoming a health care leader.