How My Masters Sparked a Major Career Leap

“After undergrad, I started in healthcare marketing, picking up valuable skills, but I felt like I was stagnating. I wasn’t keeping up with the rapidly evolving industry — especially with the rise of data-driven decision-making, new tools, and AI,” Guzmán says. “I really wanted to move into the tech space, and I thought a master’s degree would help me make that transition and succeed once I was there.”

Guzmán kept his day job as a communications specialist at Kaiser Permanente when he joined USF’s Master of Arts in Professional Communication program. While taking evening classes at USF’s downtown campus made for a very busy two years, he relished all the opportunities he had learning new skills and doing hands-on projects, connecting with classmates and professors, and meeting industry experts who visited his classes.

“My health communications professor was in a leadership position at one of the largest global communications agencies, Fleishman Hillard, and every week he’d bring in another communications leader from life sciences and biotech companies to talk to us,” says Guzmán, who is now a senior marketing communications manager at Doximity, a leading digital platform that enables medical professionals to connect and access free digital health tools. “These were people I wouldn’t normally have access to, and I’d get to talk to them and then connect on LinkedIn after class. I purposely chose USF because I wanted to build my network here in the Bay Area, and these introductions were really valuable.”

One of his most memorable experiences at USF was when he and a small group of classmates created a social media strategy for Roots Community Clinic. Guzmán and his team collaborated in a new and more effective way with each other, bringing their different perspectives to create a plan for an organization that is doing important work for our community, he explains.

“We got to work with real-world clients, and make a difference in the process,” Guzmán says. “Projects like this gave me the chance to take charge and own what I was doing — both in terms of the communications strategy we developed and how I conduct myself at work. I learned how to be an effective leader and to take on different portions of projects. When I interviewed at Doximity for a manager position, having these group project experiences was very helpful since I was expected to have managerial experience but didn’t in my previous jobs.”

Guzmán says his master’s helped establish himself as an expert in communication and it empowers him to carry himself with a new level of confidence as he grows in his career.

“USF’s master’s in professional communication program was a game-changer that enabled me to transition from healthcare to health tech and secure a higher-level position with better pay. But it doesn’t end there,” he says. “I really value the lifelong learning and skills I developed through my master’s program. It’s knowledge I have at my fingertips, and I rely on it often at work. I want to create impactful, meaningful change in atypical ways, and I think I’m now set up with the foundation to do that.”