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Aman- Folks, welcome back to another episode of the "I AM GPH" podcast. We're very excited to have DeRonn Kidd. A quick intro on DeRonn. DeRonn has received his masters of public health with a concentration in community and international health in 2014. He's currently serving as a manager on health services, strategy, and innovation team at CVS Health, the nation's largest healthcare company. In this role, DeRonn works with retail pharmacy strategy and focuses on new projects related to growth opportunities in pharmacy. His work entails responding to high-level business questions from senior executives, working on special projects, and ideating net new ideas. But rather than me introducing DeRonn, we have DeRonn right here. DeRonn, welcome to the "I AM GPH" podcast.
DeRonn Kidd- Thank you for having me, really appreciate it. Excited to be here.
Aman- We're so happy to have you here. Why don't you start us off by introducing yourself. Walk us through the journey from undergrad to where you are right now. I'd love to hear it all.
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, definitely. And so let me go ahead and just jump off with saying thank you for having me here. I really appreciate it. Excited to be here, excited to share more about my journey, and also have updates for you too as well. So actually, I'm in a new role currently right now.
Aman- Wow, congratulations.
DeRonn Kidd- And I'll get to that when I get to that part of my journey. So again, DeRonn Kidd, nice to meet you. Nice to meet everyone. And yes, currently working at CVS Health in a new role. But I'll start from the beginning of my journey. So I completed my undergrad at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and then completed my master of public health at NYU. And also, I have an MBA from the University of Rochester Simon Business School with a focus on strategy. And so that's a little bit of like, I guess you can say my introduction and in terms of, like, my career trajectory and what brings me here and how I arrived at CVS. I'm happy to kind of like walk you through, if that works.
Aman- Absolutely. Tell us more about, I mean, there's so many what you have described as the dream of some students, right? Multiple degrees, diversity in multiple areas. How did that journey start off for you? What made you move to different spaces, get an MBA? There's a lot out there.
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, yeah. That's such a great question. I think it's a layered question too, because it touches on so many points, right? I'll say that like, you know, when my career first began, that was not the plan per se, right? Something that became clear over time as I kind of moved through both my career and I guess my interests developed and my goals developed. But yeah, you know, it started out with, again, I mentioned I was at Michigan for undergrad. And, you know, from Michigan, I went to complete a fellowship at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. And this was a fellowship that was coordinated by the Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Kenan-Flagler Business School. And basically, the project worked there until a number of things from financial assessments, public health, prevention practice, health education, and health policy. And it gave me a really great introduction to not only what work looks like in public health on a grander scale in the social sector, 'cause now I'm working within this university. But also as a fellow, I was working among other great leaders, you know, within the field. And it really opened my eyes up to like, wow, this is what public health work looks like. Yes, we know it as like your traditional roles, but we also, I didn't realize that there were nontraditional roles, you know, that existed. And I think that is what ultimately opened the door to the next role as well. And I can tell you more about that, but I think to your question, like, you know, it's just been an interesting journey, like, going through all of this now.
Aman- There's this key word, nontraditional roles.
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah.
Aman- Three words, actually. So what stands out to me about that is that I have a strong feeling that this comes in front of many students that are thinking right now that I must follow this design path. And that works for a lot of people. They have that design path, but for those people that have that thing inside them, where there's something different, I want to be synergistic. I want to have collaborator with this environment and that environment, and you are exposed to different mindsets and industries that helps you expand that. But what would you tell a student right now that is looking for that nontraditional role, is looking for something that's designed for them? Or how can they design what they're looking for for themselves?
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, two things. One, be very intentional about what it is that you want to pursue or what it is that you're interested in learning more about. And then two, be open to opportunities that might look a little different than what you expected. So kind of just continuing on with that part of the story, where I completed that fellowship, one of the things that I got introduced to there was, you know, the world of global pharmaceuticals, and I remember this distinctly, like, I was like, "Oh," I was like, "Pharma, public health?" I never made the connection at that particular point. I didn't have someone to necessarily tell me that but then I had a chance to be around leaders that worked in the space and they were like, "Oh, no, this is public health. Let me show you how." And I had a lot of prior experience in clinical research already. And you could just say it presented an opportunity for me to take that next step. But in order for that to work, like, I had to be receptive, right? I had to go beyond just like, oh, well, you know, this is what traditional roles typically look like, right? And I had to also be really clear and intentional about what it was that I was looking for, right? And this lined up, you know, for that perfectly.
Aman- I have so many questions that are coming up. Let's take a step back. You have spoken about doing roles that gave you a skill set and then going into roles that were unexpected. Can you walk us through that journey of, you walked us through your journey of the academic journey, essentially. Can you talk more about your career trajectory and how that evolved over time?
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, what began as work in a fellowship, you know, in public health transitioned into work in global pharma, you know, doing clinical research, developing a vaccine tied to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, right? But I knew, you know, after that, that I had more of an interest in more goals that were tied to healthcare management and policy. That brought me back to school, got the MPH. And I also knew that I had an interest in consulting, right? And so I was like, "Whoa." You know, consulting is typically something you need an MBA for. Like, how can I use the experience I have in healthcare with my MPH to make that pivot? And I was able to successfully make that pivot, you know, and stepped into consulting, doing work around healthcare management policy. And then, you know, after success within that field, like, I took a leap of faith, worked as an entrepreneur full time, right? Left healthcare for a moment there and achieved success as an entrepreneur, but realized that, I guess you can say my passion, my heart was truly in, you know, healthcare and within public health, pivoted back, and continued to do many of the same work that I was doing prior to that pivot, but wanted to do more work that had a strategy focus and had been knocking on the door strategy for some time and realized that, you know, that MBA with that focus on strategy would help open that door and, you know, move me, I guess, to the next level. That's exactly what it did. And then that brought me to CVS. So that kind of goes back to what I said before about being really intentional but also being kind of open to, like, these opportunities, sometimes looking a little different than what you expected. Like, that healthcare consulting role that I had post, you know, MPH looked a little different than what I expected but it gave me a wealth of experience, right? You know, coming out of that public health fellowship, going into pharma looked different than what I expected but it gave me a wealth of experience, right? So it was always just kind of being open to the opportunity and saying, "Okay, I'm ready, let's go." You know?
Aman- Wow. Okay, there's this area of the wealth of information that you're receiving and the knowledge that you have. And what stands out to me is how does one find the balance between taking a leap of faith into right place, right time, and versus defining. There's this constant defining, who am I? Who am I? That's a question a lot of students have. And then this other side is that, okay, should I accept this? I don't know if it's the right thing for me. It's kind of like a tug of war. And what was it for you? How much definition or identifying my path happened? And how much not defining that and surrendering essentially happened for you?
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, I think sometimes I think, you know, there's the idea that if you, so, I mean, let's use your word surrender, right? If you surrender or if you trust the process, that that means that your path is not defined. And I couldn't disagree with that more. Like, I think what it actually is, is that, like, you're clear on your path, but you are also trusting that, like, your path may unfold in a way that looks a little different than what you thought it was gonna look like, right? So you can be very clear on your path, you can be very clear on like, this is what I wanna do, right? But if someone comes to you and says, "Hey, here's an opportunity for you to do these X, Y, and Z." And whatever it is that they're describing lines up with exactly what some of the things that you said you wanted to do on your path. Oh, well, wait a minute. That sounds exactly like what you said you wanted, right? So sometimes it's hard to or one of the challenges though is, is that we can be so focused on things looking the way that we want them to look. That if it doesn't show up exactly how we want it to look, then we figure, oh, well, I didn't get it. Like, I failed. Or, you know, my path is not clear. No, that's not the case. That's not the case at all, you know? So really, I think is more about a balance between, you know, being very clear and intentional about what your path is, but also not being too rigid, you know, about how you expect it to show itself.
Aman- Wow, amazing. Don't control the uncontrollables.
DeRonn Kidd- Exactly, exactly. Control the controllables, but don't control the uncontrollables, exactly.
Aman- I love that. And I'm sure a lot of listeners are writing the little words of wisdom down right there. Walk us through that entrepreneurial journey that you went through, because it was one of these defining paths for you, including surrender, right, to some degree. What was that like, that journey?
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, and I think entrepreneurship really gets at the point of like both surrendering but also gets at the point of like, you know, you realizing that you have to really give your all, but at the same time, trust. Like, you know, and so entrepreneurship was, I mean, I'll be honest with you, it was not something that I was like, I had mapped out, like, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be this entrepreneur. It was more or less like, you know what, if there's an opportunity, I saw an opportunity. It was presenting itself. It had been presenting itself for some time. And, you know, I felt like I was being pushed in that direction. And, you know, as an entrepreneur, I worked specifically as, you know, an internationally acclaimed and award-winning photographer and marketing strategist, which is distinctly different from anything related to healthcare or public health, right? But this was something that I had been, I guess, more or less been pushed towards, you know, for years actually, you know, in various capacities, but achieved a level of success that I never expected, right? You know, I covered projects across four of the seven continents. I worked with a number of high-level, both, you know, higher level and high-profile individuals, worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies, worked with a number of major, both companies within the advertising space, as well as major schools within academia to push forward projects, had the opportunity to be put in front of top level execs to help lead projects. There were things that I never even dreamed of happening that were happening as a result of me just following exactly what I just described a moment ago. And so, again, that clarity has served me in terms of providing that diversity of experience. But at the same time, the trusting, you know, and being, okay, all right, let's see where this goes, has also allowed me to do things and achieve things I never even imagined.
Aman- Wow. There's this photography aspect that you brought up and there's something about, and the theme to me is around, apart from the path that you have formed, the nontraditional element that's coming into this. And I remember when reading about you, there was a lot to do with music. There was a lot to do with food and the outdoors and your relationship with that and photography. So how have all these, do you think that there's a synergy or a correlation with the nontraditional paths and the public health world in your world?
DeRonn Kidd- It's possible. I think you can possibly make that correlation. I think that, you know, those things that you just touched on are part of what make me who I am, right? You know, so we can have this path and we can talk about what we wanna achieve in our careers. But at the end of the day, you are who you are, right? You have your individual interests, you have your individual areas that, like, you love or that you're passionate about, right? And, you know, I'm a firm believer, you know, do the things that you're most passionate about, right? And success will come, right? It is true. Success will come, you know, as long as you are very clear on that. So I do think that there is some connection on some level. I don't know if I would say that, like, you know, that there is the nontraditional path and then, you know, what I have my interests are, and that there might be correlation there. I don't know if I would say that as much as I would say that, like, you know, I've always had these interests. I've always had these passions, right? I just never dreamed that those interests and passions would open these doors, some of these doors, right? Like, and when those doors presented themselves, like, I was blown away. I'll give you an example. Like when I first had my first, like, international, you know, project. Like, I remember being there and doing it and being like, "This is really real. This is surreal, this is actually happening. Oh, my gosh." Like, you know, so my first project abroad was in Morocco. So I'm in Africa in Morocco, and I'm doing this, and I'm like, "This is really happening." Like, "Yeah, right." Like, you know? But at the same time, you know, I think I had to be also really comfortable. Oh, and I just realized I didn't say this, but this is really a key part of this process. I had to be really comfortable with stepping out of my comfort zone. And I think that's an important piece of this discussion that, you know, I think is really key, is that if you want certain, it can be public health, it can be healthcare, it could be your entrepreneurial pursuits, or it can be whatever your particular interests are. If you want certain levels of success to find you, you have to be willing to, you know, step out of that comfort zone to a degree, right? As they say, the greater the risk, the greater the reward, right? And so, you know, that was something that I think I found myself following, and it has brought me, you know, to where I am now.
Aman- Speaking of where you are now, tell us more about your journey at CVS, this evolution that's taken place. And we're excited to hear the newest details of your current role as well. So can you walk us through that journey?
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, yeah, definitely. So my journey began with CVS, actually, as an MBA intern in 2020. And I was working on the retail pharmacy strategy team, and specifically working on a project that dealt with developing a commercialization strategy around how, and I can't be too specific about it because some of this is proprietary information, but, you know, I had to develop a commercialization strategy around how to market basically a new product within the retail pharmacies. Now, here I am at this point in my life in my career with a lot of experience in healthcare but this particular product that I had to or I had to think about, the strategy I had to develop around this was something that was uniquely challenging, but also, like, eye-opening as well, and loved it, great strategy experience. And then I was presented with a full-time opportunity to join the company, and specifically with the health services strategy and innovation team with the retail pharmacy strategy team. And for those that don't know much about CVS, you know, again, it is not just simply a pharmacy chain. It is the largest healthcare company in the country, right? So as part of a fortune for and the nation's largest healthcare company, you know, my team was responsible for driving forward new ideas and placing strategic bets, shaping the future of one of the core businesses within the company. And in this role, as you've touched on already, we worked on new projects related to growth opportunities in pharmacy. So, you know, that was something that gave me, I mean, just a wealth of experience and exposure, you know, to, you know, everything from retail to digital pharmacy to omnichannel to primary care to, you know, doing work around mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, you name it. It was really high-level strategy work. And then now my most recent role. So now I work as a senior manager and on the Aetna side of the business, so Aetna is part of CVS. Like, it's not a different company, it's still part of the same company, it's just on a different side of the business. And in this role as a senior manager, I am responsible for basically helping, developing, and implementing, I guess, a program and strategy that meets expectations around, I guess, standing up, I guess you can say programs that are tied to both health education services, driving improved health equity, and population health management within the Medicaid markets in California, specifically within San Diego and Sacramento. And so when I tell you that I didn't see, I didn't even know that, you know, an opportunity like this existed prior, and now here I am doing this, right? But does it continue to build on my prior experiences? It does. And so, yeah, here we are.
Aman- Love to hear that. And very happy for you. Congratulations on the new role. Perhaps when you listen to this podcast a few years later, it will be something completely beyond what was imaginable based on how you speak about it as well.
DeRonn Kidd- I hope so, yeah.
Aman- I trust that that's gonna happen. Replay that. So one question that came up is that there's a lot of preconceived notions about this whole pharma world, right? And even you brought it up when, oh, pharma and public. What is the connection? What were some myths that were busted when you hopped into the world of pharma?
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, I think that's a really great question. So, okay, so I mentioned before, I worked in pharma specifically with Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. Otsuka is a company based out of Japan. The office that I worked out of was here in the States. And Otsuka Pharmaceutical, they have a number of, I guess you can say products within the pharma space. But the team that I worked on was specifically designed and focused on work related to tuberculosis. So Otsuka is the top private funder of tuberculosis research and drug development in the world. And also responsible for leading the largest prospective drug trial on multi-drug resistant tuberculosis to ever be conducted and it spanned across the entire world, like, across five continents. And I think what we saw here with this role and with this team was that the company was really trying to say, "Hey, we really wanna do something that's meaningful and impactful." Right? We really want to be able to work with, you know, be it countries or be it with populations, you know, that have historically struggled, you know, with managing or have had a high burden of TB and managing, you know, the global TB epidemic, specifically within a lot of developing countries, right? And so I think this, again, we don't typically think of pharma in this light that's more positive light. But what we saw here was that, like, it is possible for a company in space to do meaningful and impactful work that, you know, you may even call equitable, right, in a lot of ways. And another part of this too is, is that like, it actually helped me to see, okay, this is the role of pharma in healthcare. This is the role of pharma in driving forward innovation, right? People sometimes forget that part, like, that, you know, pharmaceutical companies, for all of the hoorah and the bad news we hear about them, right? They are actually really responsible for driving a significant amount of innovation within the space, right? And then, I mean, we've also heard, you know, interesting things about, like, health insurance companies too, right? You know, and don't get me started, we've also heard things about like pharmacy benefit management companies, right? So there's always some kind of, you know, how do I say this? Be it stereotype or connotation associated with each of these. But you know, if you look deeply enough, you can find opportunities that align with your values.
Aman- I'm sure a lot of students are motivated and encouraged and are gonna replay this portion of the interview. But let's make this last part for them. As a prior GPH student and a grad from NYU, what would you say, can you talk about some of your experiences? How do students best position themselves when they come to school as they're graduating? Something about your experiences. What would you share with students about that?
DeRonn Kidd- Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, let's start with, like, those helpful classes that you can take within GPH to help really prepare you for, like, your career, your future career, and, like, some of those goals and interests that you may have. And, you know, one thing I've always stressed the importance of is one, data. Like, you know, I think we live in a time right now where everything is based in data. We're all on social media, right? And so how does social media work? Social media is only even possible largely because of data and technology. And so it's the same thing here. And if you have an understanding of, you know, or even a comfort level with data, and I'm not saying you gotta be an expert, I'm not saying you gotta know it thoroughly, but if you can say, "Hey, you know, I've taken a biostats class and it's given me some introduction to how to use data." Or, "I'm even, you know, comfortable in epi, when we touch on the data aspects of that." Same thing, like, lean into that. It's gonna be uncomfortable. It wasn't fun for me. I'll just tell you now but, you know, it does benefit you. It pays dividends, you know, going forward. Another thing is, is think about what you want to accomplish in your career. For me, I mentioned earlier healthcare management policy was a big, you know, driver for me. And that actually ended up being one of my favorite courses that I took, you know, during my time in GPH. And so that would be something else I would, you know, suggest as well. And then the next component beyond, like, your classes that you're taking are, all right, what are the industries that, you know, public health professionals are entering? We touched on this already, we touched on, like, traditional versus nontraditional. I don't necessarily need to name the traditional. I think we are all really familiar with what those look like, but the nontraditional are often the ones that most people don't know as much about, right? So we're very familiar with public sector, government, non-profit work, traditional. But when we think of, you know, the nontraditional, especially when we start talking about corporate consulting, pharma, you know, or even companies like CVS, you know, there's a lot of great work that's being done there. So really take the time to explore and learn what those opportunities can look like. If you're based in New York City, I cannot tell you there are such a wealth and diverse array of opportunities in New York. Like, explore them, you know? And that brings me to my next point, you know, is leveraging that GPH network. You know, connect with alum, connect with your fellow students, you know, pick their brains. Of course, you know of some things, but they know of some things as well too. But leverage that network and find people that are working within some of those spaces or within those companies or that have that experience that, you know, that is of interest to you and leverage it, you know. And if you can't open the doors, they can either open the doors for you or they can point you to the individuals that can open those doors for you. And then the last point is kind of building on what I just said. I just touched on the power of networking within GPH but also go beyond GPH, like network with thought leaders, network with people who are doing the work that is of interest or that have alignment with your career goals, that have alignment with your values. And again, doors will open. And then when you're doing that, identify mentors. Identify individuals who can say, "Hey, you know what? I want to teach you or I want to instruct you, or I want to help guide you and help you develop further as a leader." It goes a long way in terms of, you know, really, really helping you grow as a future leader within public health.
Aman- That's a master class in a few minutes for you, folks. DeRonn, we leave our guests with this final question every time we end the podcast. It's called a magic wand question. If I give you a magic wand to solve one public health issue in the world, what would it be for you at this time?
DeRonn Kidd- Hmm. You know, I think as passionate as I am about health equity, I think that would be my magic wand. When I think about, you know, anything from health disparities to social determinants of health, you know, when I think about, you know, the areas in which we see a lack of equity, you know, I immediately think, you know, that is where I would wave my magic wand. And I would address, you know, all of those inequities and all of those problems so that we could, you know, be not only in a more equitable world, but more importantly, so that we could all have proper access to be it proper care or be it just, you know, the best lives that we deserve, we all deserve to have. So, yeah.
Aman- And you all deserve the best, every viewer of this podcast and anyone even not listening. DeRonn Kidd, thank you so much for your time, all your wisdom, and I'm sure students are gonna get, and listeners are gonna get a lot out of this one.
DeRonn Kidd- Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me here. Really great to be here. And so happy that I could share more about my journey.