Health Law Mentorship Program: Making Matches to Ignite a Passion
Photo of Dianne McCarthy (’97), Ryan Platt (’23), and Tim Hogan (’99) by Michael D. Spencer
Health Law Mentorship Program: Making Matches to Ignite a Passion
RYAN PLATT (’23) knew he wanted to become an attorney, but he was baffled about what area of law to pursue. “I really didn’t have anything on my radar—maybe healthcare or environmental law? Transactional work? Litigation?” he recalls. “But getting to meet people who did all these things helped me figure it out.”
At a BU Law Health Law Mentorship Program event, he met AMANDA MASSELAM STRACHAN (’98), who shared her experience leading the healthcare fraud unit of the US Attorney’s Office in Boston and trying headline-making cases involving a compounding pharmacy and tainted prescription drugs that killed more than 100 people. Platt talked further with Strachan and was hooked. “I was immediately interested in criminal law and health law,” he says. “There was this whole exciting aspect of dealing with big cases and being in the courtroom all the time.” He’s now gaining trial experience as an assistant US district attorney for Middlesex County, his first step in a career path to prosecuting healthcare fraud at the federal level.
DIANNE MCCARTHY (’97), who directs the mentorship program, says Platt’s experience is the perfect example of the value of building connections in the health law field. A recently retired healthcare lawyer, McCarthy began teaching as an adjunct BU Law faculty member in 2020 and began the mentorship program in 2023 with a dozen pairs of mentors and students. It has grown to about 40 mentors who work at law firms of all sizes, serve as state and federal prosecutors, provide in-house counsel, and hold key positions at Boston’s hospitals and healthcare centers.
It’s very hard to come out of law school and just start a job. You’re still feeling your way. The more we can connect students with a network and form community, the better it is for them.
TIM HOGAN (’99), senior vice president and chief compliance officer for Boston Children’s Hospital, mentored Platt and other law students. “They ask such good questions that it challenges me to think about things in new ways—things I haven’t questioned in 25 years,” says Hogan, who says he “stumbled” his way into compliance years ago.
Health law continues to evolve beyond its original role resolving reimbursement-related disputes, McCarthy says. “It’s definitely an active field, with a lot of merger and acquisition activity and litigation due to fraud. Because healthcare is so highly regulated, there’s also lots of compliance work. And it’s certainly one of the most interesting fields in law.”
BU’s health law mentorship program—which McCarthy says is the only one in the US—fosters rewarding connections and helps law students launch their careers. Mentors and mentees may chat over coffee or attend more structured events such as dinners and speaker events. “It’s very hard to come out of law school and just start a job,” she says. “You’re still feeling your way. The more we can connect students with a network and form community, the better it is for them.”
Platt advises all law students to take advantage of the guidance and support that mentoring programs provide. “It’s a fantastic idea, especially if they are even the tiniest bit unsure of what they want to do—or even if they are sure,” he says.
