Mountain Hawk Heroes: Women's Basketball Alum Lexi Martins
7/22/2020 2:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Support, Features, Flight 45, Intellectual Development
Every Wednesday, Lehigh Athletics, Lehigh Valley Health Network and Coordinated Health is proud to recognize a Mountain Hawk Hero - someone associated with Lehigh Athletics who is making a difference in the medical field. We continue today with women's basketball alum Lexi Martins '16.
Previous Mountain Hawk Heroes
July 15: Nii Daako-Darko (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
July 8: Ali Linsk Butash (Softball Alum)
July 1: Kimberly Scotto-Wetzel & Jonathan Wetzel (Track and Field/Cross Country Alums)
June 24: Robert Bonow (Men's Basketball Alum)
June 17: Morgan Decker (Softball Alum)
June 10: Jim Guzzo (Former Quarterback)
June 3: Amina Affini (Women's Basketball Alum)
May 27: Natalie Krane (Women's Soccer Alum)
May 20: Tricia Klein (Women's Golf Assistant Coach)
By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Lexi Martins '16 was ready to adapt, respond and take action.
Along the way, the program manager in Hospital Operations at the Cleveland Clinic is tapping into plenty of skills developed as a Lehigh women's basketball student-athlete.
"Our department has been placed in the position of supporting and managing some very challenging situations," she said. "It has required being very adaptable, working through a high level of ambiguity and becoming comfortable with not always knowing the correct answer. It's an unprecedented time. Very rarely is there a standard workflow for the ways in which we're responding to different factors."
The pandemic has forced everyone in the field of medicine, no matter one's position, to gather and interpret information, then put their best foot forward.
"It's very applicable to a sports game or match," said Martins. "Preparation for a game requires scouting of the other team and understanding their game plan, but there is always a level of unknown that players must quickly adjust to after tipoff."
COVID-19 has required Martins to work in a similar fashion.
"We are constantly preparing ourselves with background information, but there's such a high level of unknown," she said. "We are continuously iterating response strategies and operations. It has required a high level of stamina; for nearly five months, the organization has revolved around the virus and I don't believe that will change anytime soon.
"We are exercising mental toughness on a daily basis."
Operating A World-Renowned Hospital
Going into the second year of her current role, Martins' primary focus is on strategic operations for the Cleveland Clinic, ranked as the No. 2 hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report's 2019-20 Best Hospitals.
"We operationalize different projects and programs throughout our Northeast Ohio community hospital facilities, but also have oversight over the Cleveland Clinic's main campus tertiary-hub," she said.
Martins and her colleagues work within numerous areas spanning all general hospital operations.
"We work with the hospital presidents and chief operation officers on different high-level operations," she said. "The role has varied greatly depending on the priorities for the organization at the time. For example, during a normal week, I could be responsible for managing re-accreditation efforts at one hospital facility, helping plan the capital and business proposal for a new building on another hospital campus, while also supporting enterprise service line strategy development.
"I have been lucky in that every day looks very different, but I've had the opportunity to work with our chief executive teams at each of our regional hospital facilities, along with the corporate team for the entire health system."
Martins has been at the Cleveland Clinic for several years, beginning with a summer internship followed by a one-year fellowship.
"I was part of the administrative fellowship program for healthcare administration students," she said. "Fellowships are essentially leadership training programs offered at hospitals and health systems across the country. Fellows spend a year rotating throughout the organization and being exposed to different projects, departments and service lines across the entire enterprise.
"Following that program, I transitioned into my role in hospital operations."
Learning And Growing At Lehigh
One reason Martins has enjoyed post-graduate success was her Lehigh student-athlete experience. The epitome of a student-athlete was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year following her junior season in 2015-16, which proved to be her final in the Brown and White (as the Irvington, New York native graduated in three years).
For all her success on the court (she was a two-time All-Patriot League honoree and the program's all-time leader in rebounds) and off, it wasn't always easy.
"When I enrolled at Lehigh, I originally intended to study something on the clinical side of healthcare, but ended up as a political science major," said Martins. "I really struggled with adjusting to the science-intensive course work and had a difficult time, both academically and athletically, adapting to college.
"Upperclassman Sarah Williams was majoring in political science and encouraged me to hop into an elective with her… I really enjoyed it," Martins continued. "I wasn't quite sure how I would turn it into a career, but knew I was strengthening my critical thinking, and both verbal and written communication skills.
"It ended up being a really good fit."
As Mountain Hawks' head coach Sue Troyan said, "Lehigh's education provided Lexi the opportunity to explore different interests throughout her first two years on campus to determine where she wanted to go with her major and possible career opportunities. "The academic and internship experiences offered through Lehigh solidified the direction of that path."
Even though Martins wanted to be involved in healthcare from a young age, she wasn't sure how she would use her new major to reach her ultimate goals.
But she knew with patience, things would work out.
And it certainly has.
"When I struggled with the pre-med coursework, I noticed early on that it wasn't just the underperforming that was bothering me," said Martins.
"I was not enjoying the time I was putting into trying to learn the concepts."
Martins was self-aware enough to change course. Transitioning into her new major of political science, Martins was able secure an opportunity, through Lehigh, to intern with a senator.
"As much as I enjoyed the exposure and experience overall, I learned that a career in politics wasn't the right fit," she said.
"During college, I also had the opportunity to complete a few healthcare internships. I was a Business Solutions and Planning intern at Merck & Co. in Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania. And during the spring semester my sophomore year, I completed a community health internship with St. Luke's in Bethlehem."
Graduate School At GW
Martins knew she wanted to work in the hospital, but needed to figure out how to put her business mind to work. So, she used her fourth and final season of basketball eligibility at George Washington University while earning her graduate degree in health care administration.
"It's essentially an MBA program, but the course work is applicable to health care administration," said Martins.
Martins earned her master's degree from George Washington in 2018. An internship at the Cleveland Clinic (between her first and second years at GW) helped plant the seed for where she is today.
"I was placed within the Orthopedic and Rheumatologic Institute," said Martins. "My first exposure to health care administration was actually in a sports-dominated area.
"A year later, I applied for administrative fellowship programs throughout the entire country," she continued. "The process is extremely competitive, but my internship experience and background in athletics awarded me offers from several programs that I was pretty excited about. Having seen and experienced the internship at Cleveland Clinic, I felt like it would be the best place to start my career in terms of opportunities for exposure to different departments and leaders, as well as prioritized leadership development."
Speaking Of Leadership Development
Martins is developing into an impressive leader within the Cleveland Clinic. That leadership was cultivated in her time at Lehigh on the women's basketball team, and through the Leadership Development program (now called Flight 45).
"Lehigh Athletics holistically prepares students to be successful in their next walk of life, not only through the athletic portion of playing one's sport, but also the ways in which leadership development is prioritized," said Martins. "The leadership culture not only cultivates success and results during your time as an athlete, but also provides you with the foundation to succeed in any professional setting.
"From a career standpoint, I believe the skills I developed at Lehigh complement what I studied in undergrad and during my masters, preparing me to interact and deal with executives on a daily basis," Martins continued. "I am very grateful for that. The hard skills were nourished and taught at Lehigh – like mental toughness, grittiness and emotional intelligence, which Coach Troyan and Director of Athletics Leadership Development Julie Ammary instilled in us."
Martins is appreciative of the types of leadership development student-athletes receive at Lehigh, in all different settings.
"You're practicing it on the court throughout workouts and games," she said. "Then through Julie's programs, you articulate what you're doing, analyzing what you're seeing and refining your personal leadership skills. Being a student-athlete at Lehigh didn't only mean practicing hours a day. But you were also expected to be present at leadership group meetings, be sitting in on different boards and representing your team, while also maintaining a heavy academic course load. We were being stretched to utilize our time in the most efficient ways and learning how to actively prioritize, both of which are fundamental competencies for professional settings.
"I believe it's been incredibly instrumental in the success I've had early on in my career."
Patient-First
At the core of why Martins is so passionate about her role is the ability to make a difference in the lives of patients.
"I would argue that at the Cleveland Clinic, the mission of putting the patient first is what drives every single caregiver," she said. "It definitely is my 'why'. The organization has done a really good job of spreading and articulating the message, even if your role is not directly patient-facing."
There's no better example of putting the patient first than the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Over the last few months, our department has completely shifted priorities and has become completely COVID oriented," said Martins. "At the beginning of the pandemic, we took on a surge-planning approach. One of the very public projects the taskforce took part in was the creation of Hope Hospital. The project included the conversion of our Health Education Campus to what would have been a one thousand bed hospital for any potential surge needs."
The COVID-19 response in Ohio ended up being very strong, so the surge hospital wasn't needed – which was obviously a very good thing.
"Bed planning for nontraditional spaces across our entire system was prioritized as a main effort," said Martins. "It takes into consideration potential space constraints, medical equipment needs and staffing levels."
Today, more than four months into the pandemic, focus has turned to acclimating to the "new normal".
As Martins asked, "How do we currently live with COVID as a health system and how do we plan for recovering from COVID?
"In the beginning, we were trying to respond to needs right away for testing and caring for PUIs (persons under interest) within our system," she continued. "Now, we've reopened elective and nonessential surgical businesses. Our testing process has evolved to ensure we are still meeting the needs of our community, but we are now testing patients prior to their procedures to ensure we are also protecting our caregivers."
A Top Teammate
Responding to the pandemic has truly been a team effort, which Martins is used to from her time as a collegiate student-athlete. There may be no better way to prepare to be a good teammate in the business world than being a strong teammate in athletics. No matter the setting, teammates work together towards a common goal.
"Our CEO coins it as the 'team of teams' approach," said Martins. "Every initiative is across multiple departments and everyone has prioritized necessary preparations to best care for any COVID patients as they are present in our hospitals."
Martins is an important part of any team.
"Lexi is bright, thoughtful, articulate and focused," said Troyan. "She has been well-prepared through her collegiate athletic experiences at Lehigh and GW to provide strong leadership and initiative for the fight against this pandemic. I'm most proud of her maturity and growth since graduating from Lehigh. She has always been someone who knew what she wanted, and is understanding the responsibility and leadership that comes in working with her team at the Cleveland Clinic."
Remember… when the pandemic hit, Martins was ready to adapt, respond and take action.
And she's making a true difference in a significant way.
"I will never directly care for a patient, but everything we do is with the intent of our patients receiving the highest quality care in the safest way possible, while having an exceptional experience," said Martins.
"It definitely makes what we do incredibly gratifying."
Previous Mountain Hawk Heroes
July 15: Nii Daako-Darko (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
July 8: Ali Linsk Butash (Softball Alum)
July 1: Kimberly Scotto-Wetzel & Jonathan Wetzel (Track and Field/Cross Country Alums)
June 24: Robert Bonow (Men's Basketball Alum)
June 17: Morgan Decker (Softball Alum)
June 10: Jim Guzzo (Former Quarterback)
June 3: Amina Affini (Women's Basketball Alum)
May 27: Natalie Krane (Women's Soccer Alum)
May 20: Tricia Klein (Women's Golf Assistant Coach)
By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Lexi Martins '16 was ready to adapt, respond and take action.
Along the way, the program manager in Hospital Operations at the Cleveland Clinic is tapping into plenty of skills developed as a Lehigh women's basketball student-athlete.
"Our department has been placed in the position of supporting and managing some very challenging situations," she said. "It has required being very adaptable, working through a high level of ambiguity and becoming comfortable with not always knowing the correct answer. It's an unprecedented time. Very rarely is there a standard workflow for the ways in which we're responding to different factors."
The pandemic has forced everyone in the field of medicine, no matter one's position, to gather and interpret information, then put their best foot forward.
"It's very applicable to a sports game or match," said Martins. "Preparation for a game requires scouting of the other team and understanding their game plan, but there is always a level of unknown that players must quickly adjust to after tipoff."
COVID-19 has required Martins to work in a similar fashion.
"We are constantly preparing ourselves with background information, but there's such a high level of unknown," she said. "We are continuously iterating response strategies and operations. It has required a high level of stamina; for nearly five months, the organization has revolved around the virus and I don't believe that will change anytime soon.
"We are exercising mental toughness on a daily basis."
Operating A World-Renowned Hospital
Going into the second year of her current role, Martins' primary focus is on strategic operations for the Cleveland Clinic, ranked as the No. 2 hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report's 2019-20 Best Hospitals.
"We operationalize different projects and programs throughout our Northeast Ohio community hospital facilities, but also have oversight over the Cleveland Clinic's main campus tertiary-hub," she said.
Martins and her colleagues work within numerous areas spanning all general hospital operations.
"We work with the hospital presidents and chief operation officers on different high-level operations," she said. "The role has varied greatly depending on the priorities for the organization at the time. For example, during a normal week, I could be responsible for managing re-accreditation efforts at one hospital facility, helping plan the capital and business proposal for a new building on another hospital campus, while also supporting enterprise service line strategy development.
"I have been lucky in that every day looks very different, but I've had the opportunity to work with our chief executive teams at each of our regional hospital facilities, along with the corporate team for the entire health system."
Martins has been at the Cleveland Clinic for several years, beginning with a summer internship followed by a one-year fellowship.
"I was part of the administrative fellowship program for healthcare administration students," she said. "Fellowships are essentially leadership training programs offered at hospitals and health systems across the country. Fellows spend a year rotating throughout the organization and being exposed to different projects, departments and service lines across the entire enterprise.
"Following that program, I transitioned into my role in hospital operations."
Learning And Growing At Lehigh
One reason Martins has enjoyed post-graduate success was her Lehigh student-athlete experience. The epitome of a student-athlete was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year following her junior season in 2015-16, which proved to be her final in the Brown and White (as the Irvington, New York native graduated in three years).
For all her success on the court (she was a two-time All-Patriot League honoree and the program's all-time leader in rebounds) and off, it wasn't always easy.
"When I enrolled at Lehigh, I originally intended to study something on the clinical side of healthcare, but ended up as a political science major," said Martins. "I really struggled with adjusting to the science-intensive course work and had a difficult time, both academically and athletically, adapting to college.
"Upperclassman Sarah Williams was majoring in political science and encouraged me to hop into an elective with her… I really enjoyed it," Martins continued. "I wasn't quite sure how I would turn it into a career, but knew I was strengthening my critical thinking, and both verbal and written communication skills.
"It ended up being a really good fit."
As Mountain Hawks' head coach Sue Troyan said, "Lehigh's education provided Lexi the opportunity to explore different interests throughout her first two years on campus to determine where she wanted to go with her major and possible career opportunities. "The academic and internship experiences offered through Lehigh solidified the direction of that path."
Even though Martins wanted to be involved in healthcare from a young age, she wasn't sure how she would use her new major to reach her ultimate goals.
But she knew with patience, things would work out.
And it certainly has.
"When I struggled with the pre-med coursework, I noticed early on that it wasn't just the underperforming that was bothering me," said Martins.
"I was not enjoying the time I was putting into trying to learn the concepts."
Martins was self-aware enough to change course. Transitioning into her new major of political science, Martins was able secure an opportunity, through Lehigh, to intern with a senator.
"As much as I enjoyed the exposure and experience overall, I learned that a career in politics wasn't the right fit," she said.
"During college, I also had the opportunity to complete a few healthcare internships. I was a Business Solutions and Planning intern at Merck & Co. in Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania. And during the spring semester my sophomore year, I completed a community health internship with St. Luke's in Bethlehem."
Graduate School At GW
Martins knew she wanted to work in the hospital, but needed to figure out how to put her business mind to work. So, she used her fourth and final season of basketball eligibility at George Washington University while earning her graduate degree in health care administration.
"It's essentially an MBA program, but the course work is applicable to health care administration," said Martins.
Martins earned her master's degree from George Washington in 2018. An internship at the Cleveland Clinic (between her first and second years at GW) helped plant the seed for where she is today.
"I was placed within the Orthopedic and Rheumatologic Institute," said Martins. "My first exposure to health care administration was actually in a sports-dominated area.
"A year later, I applied for administrative fellowship programs throughout the entire country," she continued. "The process is extremely competitive, but my internship experience and background in athletics awarded me offers from several programs that I was pretty excited about. Having seen and experienced the internship at Cleveland Clinic, I felt like it would be the best place to start my career in terms of opportunities for exposure to different departments and leaders, as well as prioritized leadership development."
Speaking Of Leadership Development
Martins is developing into an impressive leader within the Cleveland Clinic. That leadership was cultivated in her time at Lehigh on the women's basketball team, and through the Leadership Development program (now called Flight 45).
"Lehigh Athletics holistically prepares students to be successful in their next walk of life, not only through the athletic portion of playing one's sport, but also the ways in which leadership development is prioritized," said Martins. "The leadership culture not only cultivates success and results during your time as an athlete, but also provides you with the foundation to succeed in any professional setting.
"From a career standpoint, I believe the skills I developed at Lehigh complement what I studied in undergrad and during my masters, preparing me to interact and deal with executives on a daily basis," Martins continued. "I am very grateful for that. The hard skills were nourished and taught at Lehigh – like mental toughness, grittiness and emotional intelligence, which Coach Troyan and Director of Athletics Leadership Development Julie Ammary instilled in us."
Martins is appreciative of the types of leadership development student-athletes receive at Lehigh, in all different settings.
"You're practicing it on the court throughout workouts and games," she said. "Then through Julie's programs, you articulate what you're doing, analyzing what you're seeing and refining your personal leadership skills. Being a student-athlete at Lehigh didn't only mean practicing hours a day. But you were also expected to be present at leadership group meetings, be sitting in on different boards and representing your team, while also maintaining a heavy academic course load. We were being stretched to utilize our time in the most efficient ways and learning how to actively prioritize, both of which are fundamental competencies for professional settings.
"I believe it's been incredibly instrumental in the success I've had early on in my career."
Patient-First
At the core of why Martins is so passionate about her role is the ability to make a difference in the lives of patients.
"I would argue that at the Cleveland Clinic, the mission of putting the patient first is what drives every single caregiver," she said. "It definitely is my 'why'. The organization has done a really good job of spreading and articulating the message, even if your role is not directly patient-facing."
There's no better example of putting the patient first than the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Over the last few months, our department has completely shifted priorities and has become completely COVID oriented," said Martins. "At the beginning of the pandemic, we took on a surge-planning approach. One of the very public projects the taskforce took part in was the creation of Hope Hospital. The project included the conversion of our Health Education Campus to what would have been a one thousand bed hospital for any potential surge needs."
The COVID-19 response in Ohio ended up being very strong, so the surge hospital wasn't needed – which was obviously a very good thing.
"Bed planning for nontraditional spaces across our entire system was prioritized as a main effort," said Martins. "It takes into consideration potential space constraints, medical equipment needs and staffing levels."
Today, more than four months into the pandemic, focus has turned to acclimating to the "new normal".
As Martins asked, "How do we currently live with COVID as a health system and how do we plan for recovering from COVID?
"In the beginning, we were trying to respond to needs right away for testing and caring for PUIs (persons under interest) within our system," she continued. "Now, we've reopened elective and nonessential surgical businesses. Our testing process has evolved to ensure we are still meeting the needs of our community, but we are now testing patients prior to their procedures to ensure we are also protecting our caregivers."
A Top Teammate
Responding to the pandemic has truly been a team effort, which Martins is used to from her time as a collegiate student-athlete. There may be no better way to prepare to be a good teammate in the business world than being a strong teammate in athletics. No matter the setting, teammates work together towards a common goal.
"Our CEO coins it as the 'team of teams' approach," said Martins. "Every initiative is across multiple departments and everyone has prioritized necessary preparations to best care for any COVID patients as they are present in our hospitals."
Martins is an important part of any team.
"Lexi is bright, thoughtful, articulate and focused," said Troyan. "She has been well-prepared through her collegiate athletic experiences at Lehigh and GW to provide strong leadership and initiative for the fight against this pandemic. I'm most proud of her maturity and growth since graduating from Lehigh. She has always been someone who knew what she wanted, and is understanding the responsibility and leadership that comes in working with her team at the Cleveland Clinic."
Remember… when the pandemic hit, Martins was ready to adapt, respond and take action.
And she's making a true difference in a significant way.
"I will never directly care for a patient, but everything we do is with the intent of our patients receiving the highest quality care in the safest way possible, while having an exceptional experience," said Martins.
"It definitely makes what we do incredibly gratifying."
Season Preview - Women's Basketball
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Thursday, May 15
Chasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 1
Wednesday, May 14
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Wednesday, March 19
