Student Spotlight: Filip Engström (HEM ’25)
Filip Engström is a student in the Healthcare Emergency Management master’s program at Graduate Medical Sciences. Originally from Sweden, Filip is a double Terrier who also earned bachelor’s degrees in human physiology and psychology from Boston University. Filip is currently researching management of mass casualty incidents for his master’s thesis and will soon matriculate into medical school. Learn more about Filip below!
Tell me about your journey to Boston. What was your background prior to coming to Boston University?
I was born in Sweden and moved around a lot as a child. I went to a boarding school in the United States for high school. I decided in my 11th or 12th grade year in high school that I wanted to do something along the lines of medicine. I thought that the U.S. education system worked a lot better with what I wanted for that route. So, I decided to apply to colleges here. I really liked the Human Physiology programs at Boston University, and the very specific focus on anatomy and physiology. I applied and I got in.
During my undergrad, I thought that the focus on the human body was great, but in my opinion, it left out half of the person, which is the mind and the brain and how it connects to the body. So, I decided to do a dual degree and got a bachelor’s in psychology in addition to the bachelor’s in human physiology. I didn’t want to go straight from my undergrad to apply to medical school, so I decided to do a gap year. I was looking around at a couple of different programs, and quite late in the application cycle, I found the Healthcare Emergency Management program. I showed some interest in that, and then I was contacted by one of the professors. We had a chat about what the program entailed, and I thought it sounded incredible. That’s how I ended up at GMS.
What in particular drew you to the Healthcare Emergency Management program?
I started becoming interested in medicine pretty late in high school, but I still wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. I liked the aspect of emergency medicine just because it’s very active, and it’s always something new, but I wasn’t completely sure. In my freshman year, I took the EMT course and became an EMT. I started working both at BU and at some of the sports events around the city. It was great, and I started becoming more and more interested in the behind the scenes work at the management aspect of how to run these really big events where there are a lot of moving parts. That’s one of the main focuses of the HEM program. I thought that it would also be very helpful moving forward into an actual clinical career to understand how that behind-the-scenes stuff works.
Can you tell me a little bit more about some of the research or work that you’re doing as a part of the program?
My thesis is on mass casualty incidents, which is when you have emergencies that have more people injured and require more resources than you have on hand, and how to deal with situations like that. Through the program, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with and learn from representatives from a bunch of different departments around Boston. I’m working with Boston University’s EMS program and people from Boston EMS, the city ambulance provider. I’m also working with people from the Boston Fire Department and people that have loads of experience, both nationally and internationally. That’s very exciting.
I’ve also had the opportunity through the program to talk to a lot of experts that have experience with some of the federal emergency management organizations, running disasters and those kinds of situations. We also do a lot of simulation work in class. Having the ability to think through and pick the brains of all these people I’ve been able to meet has been really interesting.
How does your work in the program fit into your larger goals in the field?
I am going to be going to medical school starting next year. So, that will be the clinical education. In the future, whether I am working in a hospital or working in the field, I think the experience and knowledge from the HEM program is going to be a great boost both to understand what’s going on, rather than just staying in my little individual bubble, or to eventually move into a management position later. I think physicians can be a bit detached from the goings on of everything around them. Having had this experience to talk to firefighters and paramedics and public health officials and being able to understand what it is they do and how that ties into what I’ll be doing as well is super valuable.
Are there specific mentors who have helped you with getting to this point in your career?
I think the person that comes to mind immediately is Professor [Kelly Pesanelli, PT, MSPT]. She teaches at Sargent College and was one of my undergraduate professors. She taught a class called Organization and Delivery of Health Care in the U.S., and it was all about how Medicare and Medicaid work, how insurance works, and all of that. As someone who didn’t grow up in the U.S. and wasn’t as familiar with that system, I found it fascinating. I think of all my courses, it’s been one of the most directly applicable to understanding the healthcare system, both from a wider perspective and also just understanding what my insurance policy actually means. She also helped me out a bunch with deciding on what master’s program would be right for me in the future.
What advice would you give to a student who is following a similar path to you?
I would say, be active in class, and don’t be afraid. I’m one of the younger people in my program. A lot of the people that enroll are older, more experienced, with established careers. Immediately coming into it as someone fresh out of undergrad can be a bit daunting or a bit intimidating, from seeing all these people that already have knowledge and already have field experience. Taking the opportunity to learn from them and talk and realizing that I also have things I can contribute to class is the most important thing that I’ve come to realize as I’ve been going through the program.
What do you like to do around Boston for fun?
I’m a big board game fanatic, so I love playing board games, finding out new board games, and exploring different board game stores around Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and all the surrounding areas. In a similar vein, I’m a big athletics fan. So, both taking part of those sports events as EMT staffing, but also, Boston has a bunch of climbing gyms that are super fun. Going out for runs along the Charles is great. The Esplanade is a beautiful place, especially in the spring and summer, as I really enjoy that as well.