Andrea Malkin joined Baptist Health Sciences University as the vice president of Strategy and Integrated Planning in November 2025. She’s helping the university plan for the future, and we talked with her to learn more.
Why did you choose to work in higher education?
I had practiced health care law in Memphis for 30 years and managed my firm for the last five during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the mission of providing health care in the Mid-South became even more important.
While I loved practicing law, I saw an opportunity to give back more to the community. I spoke with health care leaders across Tennessee and connected with the dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. In 2022, I became the chief of staff for the College of Medicine statewide, and I worked on strategic planning, community engagement and accreditation.
Joining Baptist in this new role expanded the opportunity for me to give back not only in Tennessee, but also in Mississippi and Arkansas.
Why did the university add this new executive leadership position?
The position was formed out of a need to think strategically as we grow and to focus on accreditation and institutional effectiveness. The role will also allow for exercising greater stewardship over the university’s community and alumni engagement and marketing, ultimately improving the university’s visibility.
For community engagement, I’ll be working closely with the Community Relations team at the Corporate Office to collaborate on prioritizing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities for students from kindergarten through their senior year of high school.
What do you hope to accomplish in your new role?
A lot of things. It’s a big job. It’s my honor to work with the Strategic Planning Executive Committee to create the new strategic plan for the university. The current plan will continue through 2028. We will launch the new strategic plan in 2029. It will be a blueprint for the future of the university and shape all of our initiatives as we move forward. The strategic plan will include research, clinical care, education, workforce development and community engagement.
I am also working toward increasing the university’s visibility in the Mid-South and helping people understand who we are. That’s really important, and it’s going to frame our community engagement activities and how we incorporate alumni into those activities.
Any plans you can discuss?
We are working closely with leaders to understand each college’s unique needs and to help them accomplish their goals. I am also in the process of fully staffing certain departments, including Marketing, as well as Institutional Effectiveness (IE), which is in charge of accreditation, compliance and data reporting. IE is vital for the accreditation process for programs and for continuous quality improvement, which informs changes that should be made to our university’s programs.
What has been unique so far in your experience at Baptist Health Sciences University compared to your previous role?
I have interacted with many Corporate leaders and university students, faculty and staff, who are very excited about the university and are supportive with an open door policy. That is really lovely and makes for a collaborative, fun experience.
We’re all rowing in the same direction. Everyone understands the mission and knows what we need to accomplish.
