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MBA in Healthcare series: Healthcare webinar panel overview


What happens when 6 top business schools - Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg, Haas, and Fuqua; 6 panelists - looking to make the next big change in the healthcare industry; and 1 organization - Gurome come together to inspire the next generation of champions in the healthcare industry? A lively and engaging discussion ensues on what the role of MBAs in addressing the issues facing the healthcare industry today is and why thought leadership and definitive action is so critical in effecting a change in the healthcare industry world over. You can access the audio recording of the webinar by clicking here.

On July 17th, 2010, Gurome conducted a webinar with six panelists representing 6 top business schools. The discussion began with panelists giving a brief description about their backgrounds and why they got interested in an MBA with a healthcare focus. What was interesting to note was that each of the panelists - be it  Karen Sein, Co-President, Healthcare Club at HBS ; or Dr. Vandana Jain, Co-President, Healthcare Club at Stanford GSB; comes from a well-differentiated background, yet each in their individual capacities are working on improving the healthcare system.

Sarah Bruss, Chair of Admissions, Healthcare Club at Duke Fuqua, for example, graduated from the University of Virginia in 2004 and worked in media, a field completely unrelated to the healthcare industry. It is while she was researching for a political magazine that she got involved closely in the healthcare debate, and eventually transitioned to a company called Advisory Board, which does clinical research for hospitals. Sarah was in the marketing and sales department of Advisory Board and it is during her tenure that she realized that she wanted to explore more in the field of healthcare. Sarah chose the Duke Fuqua MBA program primarily for its health sector management certificate program.

Like Sarah, Ian Farrington, Co-President, Healthcare Club at Kellogg School of Management, too did not come from a traditional healthcare background. Ian graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Urban Planning. He has 6 years of experience in various marketing roles in corporate law firms. Ian did not originally join Kellogg for its healthcare program; rather it is only after he entered the Kellogg MBA program that he realized that healthcare is where he wanted to be.  Both Sarah and Ian are interning at Jonson and Johnson for summer. Lauren DiCola, President, Healthcare Club at Wharton School graduated from Brown University with a degree in Neurosciences but instead of going to med school she joined IMS Consulting and focused on the Pricing and Reimbursement for pharmaceuticals in the U.S. and globally. Lauren felt she needed a broader exposure to the different aspects of then healthcare industry; not just consulting and that is how she chose to join Wharton School of Business. Lauren is currently interning at Novartis.

Vandana studied at the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in India and later went to Harvard Medical School for a Fellowship. Vandana practiced for 4 yrs in one of the top eye hospitals in Mumbai, the Aditya Jyot Hospital. It is during her practice as an ophthalmologist that Vandana realized that as a doctor she was very well trained in the scientific and treatment-related issues of health but she did not have much insight into the ancillary aspects of healthcare. Vandana had always nurtured the goal of effecting a big change in the healthcare sphere and it is this dream that egged her on to join Stanford GSB. 

Karen majored in Public health from the University of California, Berkeley and always knew that healthcare is where she would want to be. Karen was a Project Manager at the South San Francisco Medical Centre, where she worked closely with senior leadership to execute strategic projects, such as the development of two new clinical departments. What really attracted her to HBS was the Harvard Research Center. Heather Stamper, Co-President, Healthcare Association at Haas School of Business, on the other hand, graduated from Stanford with a degree in Economics. Prior to business school, Heather worked at Cornerstone Research as an economic consultant. She worked in a variety of industries, but was particularly interested in healthcare. It is because Heather wanted to transition into the healthcare space that she applied to Haas, U.C. Berkeley where she is pursuing the healthcare certificate program.

What became quite apparent from the discussion was that while some of panelists had particular interest in healthcare, there were a few who discovered their interest in the healthcare space along their career and even as late as after they joined an MBA program. The discussion also busted some popular myths that a healthcare background is necessary to pursue an MBA focused on healthcare.

Stay tuned as we discuss specific queries answered by the panelists on the program and the healthcare industry in general in our subsequent blogs. You can also listen to the audio here. To know more about which schools offer programs with healthcare focus, write in to info@gurome.com.



Posted by kalyani at Jul 29, 2010 1:11:19 PM
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