BSc '13, Health Studies
CURRENTLY: Product Manager, RL Solutions, Toronto
Some days Heidi Chodorowicz gets to work and can’t believe her luck.
“It’s just the best place – a great environment for learning new things and meeting great people. It might sound cheesy, but RL really is like a big, happy family,” she says.
Heidi works for RL Solutions, a Toronto-based software company that develops products to help hospitals keep their patients safe. It’s a Canadian high-tech success story, and probably the last place Heidi imagined working when she came to Waterloo to study health.
“Like a lot of other students, I was thinking of a career in medicine,” she says. “But looking at health from a population level showed me there were other important ways I could contribute.”
Heidi spent two co-op terms exploring hospital-based research opportunities (and even had the chance to watch an open-heart surgery), but it was a co-op placement at RL that changed her life.
“I thought the tech sector was closed off to me, but at RL, they understand that technical skills can be taught, but compassion and empathy for health care isn’t something you can teach. That’s why AHS alumni are such an asset to RL’s culture and innovation.”
Heidi joined RL full time after finishing her degree, and today holds a product management role. She works with RL clients around the world to identify problems that need to be solved and how software can help support work in patient safety and quality improvement.
“I can apply so much of what I learned in AHS – I’m constantly researching the global health-care industry, and love that I get to continue my learning this way.”
The biggest thing Heidi would like current students and alumni to know is that making a difference in your chosen field is possible, but sometimes you need to look in unconventional places.
“I never thought I’d end up working at a tech company,” says Heidi, “But it’s amazing the growth you can find when you open yourself up to new opportunities.”
Heidi has played a key role in strengthening our connections with RL Solutions, one of our valuable corporate and co-op partners. Thank you, Heidi!
