Fuqua: Sending More of Its MBA Class into Healthcare Than Any Other School
Though down from a record-setting 11 percent in 2012, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Management sent eight percent of its most recent graduating class into healthcare careers—maintaining its lead among all top business schools in this regard.
Fuqua features a Health Sector Management (HSM) program widely considered one of the preeminent healthcare management education programs in the nation. It builds on healthcare education Duke began offering in 1930 when Duke Hospital opened. First-year HSM courses were moved to the business school in 1986, and the HSM program became fully integrated into Fuqua in 1991.
Today, as much as one-fifth of each full-time MBA class at Fuqua pursues an HSM Certificate, making it the largest healthcare program affiliated with a leading business school. Fuqua’s affiliation with Duke University Medical Center and Health System—a leader in biomedical research, education and healthcare delivery—contributes to the HSM program’s strength. So, too, does its location in the North Carolina Research Triangle, which is home to dozens of leading biotech, healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations, including GlaxoSmithKline, Biogen, Novartis and Paradigm Genetics. The HSM program maintains close ties with these and other area companies—keeping students and faculty abreast of the rapidly changing healthcare industry and offering companies inside access to their talent pool.
Fuqua’s HSM Coursework and Faculty
Fuqua’s HSM Certificate was designed to prepare students to navigate the changing needs and interests of the healthcare consumer, manage the development of biotech and medical technology, control the increasing costs of healthcare and respond to the effects of globalization in both developed and emerging markets. To earn the certificate, students must complete two required courses, a seminar series and three electives in their area of interest.
The first of the two required courses, “Health Care in the 21st Century,” is a weeklong course students take prior to Fuqua’s general first-year orientation. Coined “HSM Boot Camp,” it provides an overview of the healthcare system’s structure, delving into topics such as health policy, biotechnology, payors and providers and globalization. By design, full-time MBA students take the course alongside executive MBA students and returning alumni, which provides for a diversity of experience that helps all participants expand their professional network and gain greater insight into the industry.
The second required course—which Fuqua encourages HSM students to take during their first year since subsequent electives will build on it—is called “Healthcare Markets.” Students apply the tools of economics and strategy to the challenges faced by various stakeholders in the health sector, including product manufacturers, insurers and healthcare providers. Discussion of recent news in the health sector kicks off the class, followed by a deeper dive into a selected case study.
The healthcare seminar series, meanwhile, includes presentations by both Duke professors and outside industry experts who discuss the evolution of the healthcare industry and share real-life examples of how businesses have adapted to shifting conditions. These seminars also give students an opportunity to apply the core business skills they are learning elsewhere in their MBA coursework to health challenges.
Because students pursuing the HSM certificate have an array of post-MBA career goals, HSM electives are wide-ranging as well, allowing students to tailor their study to individual goals. Among the electives they can choose from are strategy courses focused on each medical devices, providers and the biotech and pharma industries; healthcare-focused entrepreneurship courses and “Health Policy & Management,” a unique course in which students travel to Washington, DC, to visit federal institutions, advocacy groups and non-governmental organizations that impact the health policy and technology development and healthcare services delivery. After completing the HSM requirements, students can choose to enroll in additional healthcare courses or take non-healthcare courses.
Many of Fuqua’s HSM faculty members hold joint appointments with the Duke University Medical Center or other schools at Duke. Their expertise is complemented by healthcare industry practitioners who serve as visiting scholars or program affiliates, adding valuable real-world experience to classroom learning.
Centers, Special Programs and Extracurricular Clubs
Fuqua MBA students benefit from research conducted by the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), a university-wide initiative established in 2006 to confront the world’s health disparities. Faculty and students from all nine of Duke’s schools are involved in DGHI research, which has focused on topics ranging from strengthening healthcare systems to emerging diseases to the influence of gender and poverty on health. The institute also collaborates with institutions in China, Haiti, India, Kenya, Singapore, Tanzania and Uganda and is working to establish partnerships in many more countries around the world.
Students interested in healthcare can also join the Health Care Club, which hosts events throughout the year designed to introduce students to the full spectrum of healthcare careers, including biotech and pharmaceutical product management, healthcare consulting, medical device marketing, managed care administration, hospital management and healthcare policy. Through corporate partnerships with companies such as Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Merck, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Amgen and Humana, the Health Care Club also provides students with valuable networking opportunities. These corporate partners often participate in the club’s annual Health Care Conference held in the fall, which brings students, faculty and industry practitioners together to examine a central issue in healthcare. The 2015 conference, “New Perspectives in Health,” featured keynote speakers Mike Kaufmann, CFO of Cardinal Health; Lúcia Soares, Johnson & Johnson vice president of healthcare technology strategy; and Stephen Kahane, president of client organization for athenahealth, Inc.
Finally, healthcare students at Fuqua also benefit from the Health Sector Advisory Council (HSAC), a partnership forged in 2002 between students and faculty and approximately 30 healthcare organizations. In meetings twice a year, the HSAC convenes to examine industry trends and draw upon the perspectives and knowledge of providers, insurers, regulatory agencies and professionals in the managed care, pharmaceutical, medical devices and medical supplies sectors.
Admission Requirements
Applicants interested in the HSM program should outline their interest as part of their general application to one of Fuqua’s MBA programs (daytime, executive, cross-continent). Admission to Fuqua automatically signals admission to the HSM program. “While many HSM students have prior experience in the health sector, the program is open to all students; many enroll in HSM in order to transition into health care,” reads the school’s website.
