By Becca Falivene Grillot, BA ’10
When UDallas business students Aaron Pizana, BA ’25, David Peschka-Santillan, BA ’25, and Jonathan Olmsted ’26 started their internships at CHRISTUS Health in the summer of 2024, they had no idea their future careers were already beginning.
All business majors looking for summer work experience, the three were also a close-knit group of friends. Olmsted and Pizana played basketball together for UDallas, and Peschka-Santillan and Olmsted were roommates.
CHRISTUS Health is a Catholic-based non-profit health system with more than 60 hospitals. The company moved its corporate headquarters in Las Colinas into a new building just a few miles from the university in February 2024. That spring, CHRISTUS reached out to the UDallas Office of Personal Career Development, looking for student interns. Additionally, they hosted career fair booths, drawing the attention of several UDallas students who also interned with CHRISTUS that summer.
Just two weeks into the internship, Olmsted and Peschka-Santillan were asked by their supervisor to manage a team of seven full-time employees in improving the processing of medical licenses. By the end of the summer, they were designing robots to automate the process.
The three students worked so well together that CHRISTUS offered them part-time jobs throughout the school year and then full-time jobs in May 2025. Pizana said that their UDallas experience taught them the value of genuine friendship, an asset to their professional team. Pizana and Olmsted said their formation on the basketball team also contributed to their teamwork dynamic.
All three students were drawn to CHRISTUS by its mission to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.
“At first, I thought, ‘I’m just building robots. I’m just building automation. What does this have to do with helping people?’ But later on, I started realizing how much I’m helping people,” Peschka-Santillan said. “If I’m able to improve the efficiency and productivity of the business production, then the patients don’t have to wonder, ‘Am I going to be able to go to the doctor? Is my health insurance going to come through?’ I’m helping to take away that person’s fear and anxiety.”
The university also maintains a corporate partnership with CHRISTUS Health, offering its employees scholarships for graduate education.
