Saadia Malik, one of our Senior Liaisons, is the walking definition of a mover and shaker – not only at WCM, but in her community. For the last eight years, she has developed relationships across departments with the goal of ensuring our users’ needs are met and finding solutions to how we can better support our faculty, staff, and students.
What did you do before you joined ITS?
I’ve been a technology professional for over 20 years. I started out in IT working on Wall Street at the age of 19 as a Junior Database Administrator. I was going to school at NYU at the time, while working full-time and I dropped my classes to part-time to pursue my career. And so, I was a Junior DBA/Application Developer with an insurance company in the Financial District. Shortly thereafter, I realized the finance world wasn't for me, so I switched over to internet companies and moved to about.com. Remember those days?
When they got bought out, I decided to stop working for a year to finish my bachelor’s, but I took a small gig as an admin at a local hospital, that's now NYU-Winthrop on Long Island. Basically, what I did there was work for the IRB and Sponsored Programs offices, and since it was a small shop, it was really hands-on and learn a lot about Research Administration. It got me really interested on the research side of things, and I stumbled upon a niche of health care and IT.
I really, really enjoyed it, so as soon as I graduated, within the next month, I applied for a job at NYU’s School of Medicine and got a position as an IT Manager for the Sponsored Programs Office and stayed there for about six years. I loved that role and learned so much while I worked there. I harbored so many meaningful friendships there, and I’m still blessed to have maintained them. Some of those colleagues and friends from NYU SOM are now here, at WCM! Small world!
Wow, so it sounds like you were hopping around just absorbing all this information.
Yep, it was always technology-based, but I had never thought to connect technology and health care before. I just did this short gig [at NYU-Winthrop] because I needed a no-brainer job in between completing my bachelor’s, but I ended up really digging deep into the role and running with it. And then, at NYU SOM, I was given so much autonomy to help rebuild their research systems and implement new technologies as we entered the age of electronic grants submissions, mandated by the NIH, alongside that dreaded Grants.gov. It was a monster but I loved every bit of it. I helped NYU SOM implement InfoEd and we were one of their first clients.
In your own words, what is your role in ITS?
I'd like to think that I’m one of the faces of ITS, but it truly is a whole team [of liaisons] who are so masterful and intelligent. Basically, I help bridge gaps between technical and non-technical entities and help people who may not understand that technology can make their lives a whole lot easier. I try to keep things simple for those who aren't part of our IT world. On the flipside, I try to take business logic and the needs of our users and translate it into what our colleagues in IT can understand and develop those requirements into something meaningful for our end users.
I try to find solutions to improve processes in anything and everything we do. I always look to see how to build efficiencies in what we’re doing and achieving this is best done when there’s trust and understanding amongst colleagues which is very important to me.
And you’re doing this by fostering relationships with our DAs, right?
Not only them, but fostering relationships across all levels of the organization, within ITS and outside of our department, with staff, students, directors, associate deans, and our Board of Trustees/Overseers. Remind me to tell you the story about how President Skorton and I briefly conversed in Arabic, which by the way, I only speak a few words of as my native tongue is Urdu.
Our team of Liaisons also works very closely with faculty to get our finger on the pulse of what’s going on in clinical care, research and understanding what they need to make their work easier.
What are examples of projects or initiatives you've been working on to improve IT for the WCM community?
One of the projects that I’m very proud of is the scorecard, which is an overview of the IT landscape of a department, like how many assets you have, the types of incidents and requests you’re lodging, are we meeting our quotas and SLAs for your department, etc. It was a labor of love and collaboration with various teams. It was two years in the making and we were kind of holding our hearts in our hands during the process, but it was very well received.
Because it’s a financial and inventory footprint of the department, it helps us spark conversations around a lot of matters. A department may say, “Hey, I see we have four file shares, but we’re only using half of our quota. Maybe we need to decrease it to save a little bit of money.”
Who is a woman you admire and why?
Honestly, there are too many to mention and of course, mom is going to be on top of that list. She’s fierce in every way and makes motherhood and being a homemaker look so darn easy! And then there are some more inspirational women that are on the top of my list, Sheryl Sandberg is a powerhouse and of course, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. It’s funny, I was just reading a little bit about her work and how she so effortlessly stands for basic women’s rights and backs it up with an incredible amount of logic and law. Her devotion, level of knowledge and understanding around the law is inspirational. She’s mastered her art in terms of her career, gained respect from her peers, she’s resilient, and I find her to be an amazing woman. There are so many more but leaving it here for now.
What is your favorite part about your job?
This. Interactions. Just being around people, understanding people, being able to help people. And doing it in a way that makes life easier for all of us. I love the people factor.
What are you passionate about outside of work?
I’m very active in social causes. Help all people, especially women and children.
You also ran for school board, didn’t you?
Wow, you’re good! Yes, I did! I ran for the school board in Garden City Park last year. Unfortunately, I didn’t win, but we had the largest voter turnout in the history of our district. Right now, I’m working on establishing the Eid holiday for our district. It’s an ongoing effort that I’ve been working on for three years, which is very near and dear to my heart. It already passed in New York City, but each district on Long Island acts as its own entity, so we’re working to get the holiday approved so Muslim students can get a day off to celebrate and truly feel as they are part of the community.
Saadia (center) with her daughters and other parents of her school district working to ensure Eid is recognized as an official holiday for Muslim students.
I also belong to the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, where Muslim and Jewish women meet and discuss different matters going on in the world today that impact Muslims and Jews, Christians, and others. And we celebrate each other's festivities, so for the first time ever, I went to a Rosh Hashanah service with my daughters. We make sure to support each other in the community, especially when hate crimes occur – we’ll attend vigils. I’m also very much active in organizations that help victims of domestic violence, both here and in Texas, where I used to live.
I think giving back and having my daughters involved makes you a better human being and puts humility in everything you do