Alumni Endows Scholarship
Vanessa Lee ’11 ’15 planned to follow in her family’s professional footsteps to become a healthcare provider—until a twist of fate short-circuited her trajectory toward medical school. As a result, Lee reconsidered, instead earning a master’s degree in health administration from Texas A&M University’s School of Public Health (SPH).
Now working in healthcare’s business side, the United Healthcare clinical program consultant is giving back to the SPH through endowing a scholarship with the support of the company’s matching funds. “Frank Mueller ’65 ’71 said something that has stuck with me for all these years: You don’t get to where you are by yourself,” Lee said. “Somebody lifted you up there. Somebody helped you along the way—and you owe that institution or person.”
Slipping into a New Direction
Growing up in Groves, Texas, Lee comes from “a family full of nurses”—so preparing for a medical career seemed a natural fit. Aiming to attend medical school. she enrolled at Texas A&M as a Biomedical Science major, worked part-time as a home health nurse aide, and served in key leadership roles in student organizations that culminated in being a recipient of the Buck Weirus Spirit Award
Yet Lee’s decision to enroll in Texas A&M was based on the Corps of Cadets. “It was the only group who told me that I was good, but that they could make me better – I had unrealized potential,” she explained. “The Corps challenged me as a person, and I thoroughly enjoyed that time. It was one of the hardest but one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”
But her time as a cadet also formed her future in a way she didn’t expect. On the night before taking the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), Lee celebrated getting her Corps boots along with other cadets in her class. Following Corps tradition, the cadets wore their brand-new boots to slide down a highly polished floor—but Lee lost her balance and fell, suffering a concussion.
The severity of her head injury caused her to miss the MCAT and during her recovery, she soon realized that she was burned out. After graduation, Lee decided to take a year off, and worked at Walt Disney World full-time—and ended up meeting her husband, who also is an Aggie.
Deciding to forego medical school, Lee focused on preparing for a career in healthcare administration. “This shift was a monumental change in my life and served as my quarter-life crisis,” she explained.
Changing Course
Weighing her options, the Aggie decided to return to Texas A&M for graduate school for two reasons: the quality of SPH’s master’s program and because her soon-to-be husband was finishing his degree.
She found her master’s program provided both the educational foundation and the necessary soft skills to succeed. Concurrently, Lee also earned a Certificate for Non-Profit Management from the Bush School for Government & Public Service. “There are a lot of unspoken things in the world of business that you have to know and learn—how to approach leadership, how to present data so it’s not offensive but informative, or how to dress appropriately,” she said. “It was good having someone looking out for your best interests and giving you honest feedback.”
Ultimately, her undergraduate and graduate studies combined with her Corps experiences have positioned her well professionally. “You take a challenge and then say, ‘I’m going to dominate this. Please move out of my way,’” Lee explained.
Climbing Professionally
After graduation, Lee completed a fellowship with Genesis Health System in Davenport, Iowa before accepting a position as a business development specialist. Four years later, she moved back to Texas to join CHRISTUS Health as a program manager for strategic planning.
Her next career step was courtesy of the Aggie Network. Lee was recruited to join United Healthcare as a Clinical Program Consultant by Dr. Shannon Butkus ’18, a United Healthcare administrator who Lee met during graduate school.
Being on the business side of healthcare suits Lee, who is now married and has two young children. “I love that I’m still in the healthcare business, but not on the hamster wheel. I know what it’s like to be in clinic and I do miss the science, problem solving and collegial experience,” she said. “But I also have a lot less student loan debt than my friends who are doctors, so I was able to start a family sooner.”
Giving Back
Lee is thankful for the scholarship support she received as an undergraduate—and the chance to interact with the donors. “It was great to feel that support from the Aggies who came before you and hear their stories,’ she said. “I loved learning about their life, generosity and kindness, and what their careers had been – the difference they made in the world.”
Her commitment to giving back was especially sparked by Mueller, who was very involved with the Corps. “He invested his time in us—and he didn’t have to,” Lee said. “I told myself that one day when I had the means, I would love to do the same.”
That day came sooner than expected. Lee had assumed she couldn’t financially afford to donate because she was early in her career, had some student debt, and had just started a family. However, Butkus—who endowed a SPH scholarship with her husband-- told Lee about United Healthcare’s program that matches donations dollar for dollar up to $14,000 annually. When Lee did the calculations, she realized that creating a scholarship over a five-year window was doable.
Lee believes this endowed scholarship, which will begin to be awarded in 2029, is just the start of her giving as well as her legacy. “Giving is a habit. It’s something you have to practice - to know where and how you want to make a difference,” she explained. “I am always thinking, ‘How do I make this sustainable? How can I lift someone up and help them along their way long after I am gone? I will never stop owing the leaders and institution that shaped me. All I can do is lift up those that come after me and this scholarship is one of the best ways I can do that.”
