Nay Thu Rein “Jacky” Aung ‘24
Degree: Master’s of Health Administration
Hometown: Yangon, Myanmar

By: Sheri Hall

For Jacky Aung, the road to the Sloan Program in Health Administration was filled with many twists and turns. When Aung was an undergraduate student in chemistry at George Washington University, his father passed away from cancer. Shortly after, he had to conduct his studies virtually from Myanmar due to the COVID pandemic. At the same time, the Burmese military staged a coup, erupting in violence throughout his country.

“All of this was incredibly overwhelming emotionally, and it took a lot to continue virtual classes especially with the wi-fi curfews imposed by the junta,” he said. “However, at the same time it revealed the cracks in Myanmar’s social services and just how much grassroot level change was needed to transform the system. This ultimately inspired me to apply to Sloan to gain a depth of knowledge in health care through an interdisciplinary course of study.”

Aung ultimately decided to enroll in Sloan and the Brooks School because of the program’s values in contributing to the world.

“The pandemic taught me that life is fleeting – especially when you realize how fast the world moves – and that has led me to ask myself what my contribution is to the world,” Aung said. “The community at Brooks was fundamental in helping me uncover a deeper realization of self and the world. I believe I have grown immensely along with the program and I’m already thinking of ways to give back to a program and community that has served me incredibly well.”

“I believe I have grown immensely along with the program and I’m already thinking of ways to give back to a program and community that has served me incredibly well.”

Aung lists off a myriad of valuable skills he learned through his coursework including financial modeling, developing frameworks for strategy, public speaking, and critical thinking.

“I greatly enjoyed my accounting course at Sloan because I love numbers,” he said. “In class, I’d always be thinking about how these financial statements would look like for companies that I was familiar with and I’d play around with different scenarios in my mind to understand its implication on each journal entry. I was intrigued by the idea of using a company’s historic financials to project future performance, which led me to take a financial modeling class.

“During my second year, I was able to utilize all that I learned about financial modeling and accounting to work with my team in constructing a pro forma for our capstone client – an experiential learning opportunity that taught me a lot.”

Aung also appreciated the opportunity to serve as chairperson of Sloan’s Colloquium series, which brings healthcare executives to campus for lectures, workshops, and seminars.

“My goal was to bring in speakers from a diverse set of backgrounds so that we’d not only understand how to succeed in our early careers, but also where the industry is headed and how we can tap into those opportunities in the future,” he said. “This role made me more comfortable with networking and I picked up invaluable knowledge such as what effective leadership looks  like and how someone can speak humbly yet with conviction.”

Aung also participated in other influential experiences as a Sloan student including attending the World Bank’s Spring Meetings in Washington D.C. attending the World Health Summit in Berlin, and conducting a deep dive on China’s Belt and Road Initiatives and its impact on ASEAN trade dynamics.

On the whole, he says his Sloan education prepared him for his next step – working as a health care entrepreneur in his home country of Myanmar.

“Being a student at Brooks – and the Sloan program in particular – is really what you make of it,” he said. “The support and opportunities that I gained from being a part of this community were incredible, and make it easy to actively look for ways to stay engaged and give back.”