Program Fellows
Meet the Executive Management Fellows at WashU Medicine.
Isaiah Caldwell, MBA
2025-2027 Fellow
Isaiah Caldwell, MBA, is the newest Executive Management Fellow at WashU Medicine. Over the next two years, he will engage in comprehensive clinical and administrative rotations — working with hospital leadership, clinical departments, central operations and executive offices — gaining expertise in strategic governance and health-care delivery.
Isaiah earned his bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in health/kinesiology and completed a master of business administration at Texas Woman’s University. Prior to becoming a fellow, Isaiah served as a physical therapy technician in both inpatient and outpatient settings, delivering direct patient care, and later transitioned to a hospital operations intern role, where he supported system level initiatives and administrative processes. Isaiah hopes to blend his professional skillset and passions for health equity, mentorship and wellness to contribute toward the advancement of health-care management.
Andromede “Andy” Uwase, MPH
2024-2026 Fellow
During the fellowship, Andromede “Andy” Uwase, MPH, had been involved in various projects and rotations, supporting and shadowing central administration functions, clinical and pre-clinical departments and hospital partners.
Andromede earned her undergraduate degree in integrated science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master of public health from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Before joining the fellowship, Andromede worked as a project management intern with Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Global, supporting their work in clinical programming, research, training and education initiatives, such as communities of practice in low-resource settings.
Andromede is an active member of National Council for University Research Administrators (NCURA), and she has a strong passion for research administration and health-care finance.
Jesseca Leggett, MBA
2023-2025 Fellow
During the fellowship, Jesseca Leggett, MBA, will be involved in several projects and rotations that support and shadow central administration functions, clinical departments and hospital partners.
Jesseca earned her undergraduate degree from Quincy University in health-care studies and a master’s in business administration from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to joining the fellowship, Jesseca worked as a clinical program manager on a project focused on improving the emergency room experience for people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia and their caregivers. Jesseca is an active board member of the Down Syndrome Association of Greater St. Louis.
Previous fellows
Hermenia Faith Ricks, MBA
2022-2024 Fellow
Director of Department Planning and Operations, Office of the Dean, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Hermenia Ricks, MBA, CCMP, PMP, CSSGB, PMI-PMOCP, completed WashU Medicine’s Executive Management Fellowship from 2022 to 2024. During this two-year rotation, she led and observed high-impact projects across central administration, clinical departments and hospital partners, gaining a 360-degree view of academic and medical operations from a project management lens.
Hermenia earned a BS in Health Sciences from the University of Texas at Tyler, followed by an MBA, and is now pursing her PhD in Human Resource Development. Her research interests include internal talent development, organizational strategy, mentorship and authentic relationships.
“The Executive Management Fellowship at WashU Medicine far exceeded my expectations. From day one, former fellows, senior leaders and the entire WashU Medicine community offered unwavering support. No matter your background, the program equips you with solid fundamentals and pushes you beyond your comfort zone through hands-on projects, expert mentorship and candid feedback, cultivating the curiosity and confidence needed to thrive in research, teaching and leadership.”
Brandon Oluyede, MSHA
2020-2022 Fellow
Senior project manager, Orthopedic Surgery
Through the course of the fellowship, Brandon Oluyede, MSHA, was involved in several projects and rotations that support and shadow the functions of central administration, clinical departments and hospital partners. Brandon is the first fellow to successfully complete his first year remotely.
Brandon earned his undergraduate degree from Georgia Southern University in business administration and a master’s of science in health administration. Prior to coming to WashU Medicine, Brandon supported the pediatric residency program at Morehouse School of Medicine where he served as an administrator.
Brandon is an active member of American College of Healthcare Executives and National Association of Health Service Executives. His passion to address health disparities through service is evident in his participation in the Urban League and NAACP.
Amanda Wilkins, MHA, CPA
2018-2020 Fellow
Special project administrator, WashU Medicine
Amanda Wilkins, MHA, CPA, has been involved in a number of projects in central administration of WashU Medicine and the affiliated faculty practice. With a special interest in pediatrics, she has worked closely under the mentorship of previous fellow Kashwayne Williams to open a new pediatric outpatient clinic at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Amanda earned her bachelor’s degree in accountancy from Miami University and master of health administration (MHA) from University of Pittsburgh. She holds an active license as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the state of Illinois.
Amanda previously worked in public accounting and regularly utilizes her finance and accounting background to complete project work as a fellow. While completing her MHA, she worked as an administrative resident at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. She is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the National Association for Health Service Executives, St. Louis chapter.
Nygel Williams MHA
2018-2020 Fellow
Manager, education administration
During his fellowship, Nygel Williams, MHA, engaged in high-level projects with key executives at both WashU Medicine and its hospital partners, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. These significant initiatives included collaborating with medical education on an interprofessional team of physician leaders to rewrite the curriculum, navigating a clinic acquisition with the Department of Neurology, and optimizing call center scheduling with the Division of Cardiology.
Since his fellowship, Nygel has held key roles in neurology, medical education and genetics and currently serves as the director of program business operations for the WashU Medicine Program in Physical Therapy.
“The fellowship experience at WashU Medicine is phenomenal. I have learned and grown immensely during my time here. This fellowship is unique in the fact it offers exposure to a plethora of projects and rotations between finance, medicine, research, executive leadership and more. WashU is an amazing institution with faculty and staff that encourage professional development with the resources to support that effort.”
Nygel earned his bachelor of health science from Saint Louis University and a master of healthcare administration from the University of Maryland College Park. Before joining WashU Medicine, Nygel served as the Villers Fellow for Healthcare Justice with Families USA in Washington D.C., where he advocated for health-care policy changes on a national level, working with both state and federal organizations.
Nygel is an active member of the National Association for Health Service Executives, St. Louis Chapter, where he previously served as treasurer and on the communications committee. He is also treasurer for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and a member of the Medical Group Management Association. In addition to this, Nygel is a co-host of the Healthcare Hustle Podcast, a multimedia project focused on spotlighting leadership in the health-care space.
Sobia Shahab, MHA
2016-2018 Fellow
Business director, Department of Neurology
“The fellowship experience here is phenomenal. During the fellowship term, I worked on a number of projects covering a multitude of functions. The ability to be part of day-to-day discussions related to various facets of the organization helped me gain invaluable insights into how everything comes together to ensure the operational success of the medical school. The level of access to top leadership and their wealth of knowledge is unparalleled.”
Kashwayne Williams, MBA, MHA
2014-2016 Fellow
Executive director business affairs & strategic planning, WashU Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine
“The experience I gained from the fellowship completely surpassed my expectations going in. I was able to have a broad and meaningful exposure across the entire spectrum of a complex organization. Such exposure provided invaluable and unique experiences only the WashU Medicine Executive Management Fellowship Program can provide.”
Andwele Jolly, DPT, MBA, MHA
2012-2014 Fellow
CEO, St. Louis Integrated Health Network
“Unlike other academic medical center fellowships, our fellowship is on the school of medicine side of the relationship, where there’s a strong emphasis on higher education, research and clinical administrative management. Second, our fellowship offers an unparalleled level of exposure to senior-level management, differentiating our fellows in terms of the breadth and depth of work-level experience.”