Sanjit K. Sodhi, FACHE, is involved with the Membership Advancement and Career Development & Transition committees with CAHL. Sanjit was one in a cohort of twelve 2022 ACHE’s Thomas C Dolan Executive Diversity Scholars. She is Chief Operating Officer for Kaiser Permanente’s Vacaville Medical and Trauma Level II Center and serves on the board of Solano County Economic Development.
Please tell us a bit about what you’ve been doing as a volunteer, and why you chose to take that particular role.
I’ve been focusing my efforts in offering mentoring conversations and becoming engaged with supporting CAHL’s BOG prep course. Both are important to me as I’ve personally benefitted from various mentors playing a key role in my career development. CAHL’s BOG prep course played a key role in my preparation for the Fellow exam.
Could you share a “CAHL Moment” with us?
I’ve been a finance professional for most of my career, and as I was looking to transition to operations, I joined ACHE/CAHL in mid-2021. Over the next year, I immersed myself towards completing my requirements to qualify for the Fellow exam, attended my first Congress in 2022, applied and was honored to be selected for the 2022 cohort of Thomas C Dolan Executive Diversity Scholar program. Upon passing my Fellow exam in 2022, and successfully transitioning to a COO role within my organization, I wanted to give back and inspire the next generation of diverse candidates like me who have limited awareness of ACHE/CAHL but are eager and looking to make a difference in championing for total health needs of the diverse communities they serve. Towards this I have two significant “CAHL Moments” to share.
My first “CAHL Moment” was with Samanta Lal. I first got introduced to and interacted with Samanta in 2021, as I had signed up to support a committee that she was leading. Soon thereafter, unexpectedly, my husband had to undergo a major surgical procedure. Samanta was kind, gracious and made me feel very comfortable as I scaled back my engagement. Post the completion of my Dolan Scholar program, and earning my Fellowship, I reached out to Samanta earlier this year looking to re-engage with my volunteer efforts. She responded immediately and was so welcoming that I felt at ease. Based on my interest, she got me in touch with the committee chairs of Membership Advancement, and CDTC. Samanta is one of the kindest, responsive, and hard-working CAHL volunteers I’ve met.
My second “CAHL moment” happened with Kelly Brian Flannery. Samanta introduced me to Kelly, and he too reached out immediately to set up time for a conversation. His insights have been invaluable in helping me understand how I can become engaged, and continue to pursue my passion, my purpose to inspire future and current diverse healthcare leaders. Kelly and I further bonded as both of us are now past ACHE Dolan Diversity Scholars, with him completing his Diversity Executive program pre-pandemic in 2019, and I completing it post-pandemic in 2022.
What motto or quote resonates with you as a leader?
I wish there are just one quote, but I’m inspired by insights and quotes that highlight personal habits of excellence. My computer monitor has the following sticky note quote that I strongly believe in, “If you’re not consciously building your habits, they are unconsciously building you.” (Author unknown).
Here are a few others that I find inspiring:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”— Will Durant
“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”— Warren Buffet
“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is
found in your daily routine.” – John Maxwell