Advocating for others has shaped every turn of Jess Pfister’s personal and professional life. It’s what motivated her as a speech language pathologist in Texas; it’s what drove her decision to move back home to Ohio to be near family; and it’s what guides her work leading the operations at one of Ohio State’s newest outpatient medical facilities.

At her core, Jess (MBA ’19) is an advocate, whether it’s for patients, the LGBTQ+ community, providers and staff, or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. She remembers the life-changing moment she recognized just how necessary and powerful advocacy is.

“When you work in acute care and intensive care units, you often see the trajectory for patients who have family or social support and how they improve, heal and move through the health care system versus those that don’t have that family or social support and advocacy,” says Jess, who began her professional career as a speech language pathologist in San Antonio, Texas.

“For me, I would drive home every day and think about who would be there for my family when they needed an advocate. I thought that if I didn’t leave then, I wasn’t sure I’d ever leave Texas because I loved it so much.”

A year later, she wrapped up her job as regional rehab supervisor at Baptist Health System, said goodbye to friends and moved on to the next chapter of her life: to be closer to her parents who lived in Mentor, Ohio.

“My brother, Nick, lived in Columbus and worked for Ohio State at the time I considered moving back,” says Jess. “I knew Columbus had potential for me in terms of the Wexner Medical Center, plus it is a vibrant city, full of opportunities.”

She moved to Columbus in 2016 with her now wife, Ashley, but found it difficult to find a full-time position. So, she started over with part-time speech language pathology jobs at Mount Carmel and the Wexner Medical Center before landing a full-time position at Wexner.

Within a year, the fear that nagged at her during daily her commutes in Texas, unfortunately came true. Her mom, Donna, was diagnosed with metastatic stage 4 breast cancer. While she had been in remission for several years, a PET scan revealed bone metastasis from her head to her ankles. Jess and her father, Greg, as well as her brother Nick, were suddenly advocates.

“The average survival rate for metastatic breast cancer is two years,” Jess says. “My mom lived nearly six years after her diagnosis, and I firmly believe it was because of the amazing person she was, but also because of the way our family advocated for the care that she needed. My mom’s plight brought a whole new aspect of advocacy to my life. I was grateful I was there and able to support her and my father, but this is a critical issue. Our story is not unique.”

“Navigating U.S. health care is incredibly challenging. Patients often face a complex and confusing system, especially when they lack family or social support. It impacts their experience and overall trajectory. Those without advocates may struggle to understand their treatment options, coordinate care and access necessary resources. There is an essential need for health care systems to simplify processes and ensure that every patient receives personalized care, reducing the reliance on constant advocacy.”

“I will always be a clinician at heart.”

How do you land a job that’s just been created? For Jess, it meant showcasing her clinical experience, her constant drive to make herself and others around her better and her desire to put patients first. That unique combination of skills ultimately led to her being named director of operations for Outpatient Care New Albany. The facility, which opened in 2021, is Ohio State Wexner Medical Center’s new model for providing comprehensive outpatient services.

In her day-to-day role, Jess oversees the facility, directs operations to ensure better experiences for 1,500 patients each day and creates healthy workplace culture initiatives for the 500 providers and staff who work at the facility. She also represents the Wexner Medical Center in the community and chairs the New Albany Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees.

“What makes me successful in the role is that I will always be a clinician at heart,” she says. “Not a day goes by that I don’t use my front-line experience to remain patient-centered. As a clinician, I know what it felt like when my feedback was truly heard, considered or valued, so we have built systems at Outpatient Care New Albany to make the staff feel recognized and supported. This role has given me an opportunity to be my authentic self as a servant leader and to consistently lean into my leadership style, which has always been about collaboration.”

She’s also leaning on lessons learned as part of the Working Professional MBA program at Fisher. She began the program in 2016 to help pivot her career from direct patient care to health care administration.

“I knew Fisher had a great reputation, and the WPMBA allowed me to work during the day in the hospitals and attend classes at night,” Jess says. “Sitting shoulder to shoulder with a diverse group of working professionals was a different kind of educational experience than I had ever had before. I became a more well-rounded professional through the relationships I built with my classmates.”

While core classes such as accounting and data analysis provided foundational knowledge, the program’s coaching and crucial conversations course have shaped her career.

“Crucial conversations truly changed my life,” she says. “It provided a strong foundation for navigating difficult and uncomfortable conversations, especially in a health care setting. This experience inspired me to research further into the topic, and since then, I’ve taught a course at our medical center on how to handle these conversations effectively.”

Ultimately, the course reinforced what Jess already knew about herself: she’s always been more apt to lean into the uncomfortable. It’s what drove her career change, brought her back home to Ohio and led to a job she calls a “dream.”

“You don’t have to stay in a specific field or job because that is what is expected,” Jess says. “If you are willing to work hard, be collaborative, be kind and connect with people, your professional growth opportunities are limitless. For me, my career has been unique because I was willing to start over and consider options outside the normal trajectory for my field.”