Health Enterprise Management at Northwestern’s Kellogg School
Another school that features a special course of study for students interested in healthcare management is Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The Health Enterprise Management (HEMA) pathway, which replaced the school’s former majors in Biotechnology and Health Industry Management, offers students two tracks to choose based on those legacy programs: the Biotechnology and Medical Products track (products) or Health Industry Management track (services). The two separate tracks were maintained, notes the Kellogg website, to provide “a common learning and practical experiences while affording students the opportunity to tailor their curriculum to their specific career goals.”
Regardless of which track they select, all students who choose the HEMA pathway must complete at least one breadth course designed to serve as a basis for more advanced healthcare electives. “Healthcare Systems” is the recommended breadth course choice for students who lack experience in the healthcare industry, and the course can be waived with the permission of the instructor only in unusual cases. Along with one of five breadth courses, students must take three courses in their chosen track. Courses offered within the products track include “Managerial Challenges in the Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and Medical Device Industries,” “Biomedical Marketing” and “Pharmaceutical Strategy.” Within the services track, meanwhile, students can choose courses such as “Health Information Technology,” “Healthcare Quality” and “Population Health.” In addition, students can choose two additional healthcare courses that let them dive deep into a particular field through experiential learning. These course options include NUVention Medical Innovation I and II, a two-quarter sequence course focused on the creation of innovations for the health industry; Medical Product Early Stage Commercialization, which does sends Kellogg students in teams of four or five to consult for select Northwestern tech transfer companies; and “Medical Technologies in Developing Countries.”
The HEMA pathway at Kellogg is led by Leemore Dafny, a professor of strategy and hospital and health services whose research focuses on competitive interactions among payers and providers of healthcare services and the intersection of industry and public policy. Nine additional professors and lecturers make up the HEMA faculty.
Special Programs and Extracurriculars
The student-led Kellogg Healthcare Club, which counts more than 350 members, offers resources for students pursuing careers in healthcare, including mixers with alumni and members, round table lunches with healthcare and biotech professors and a speaker series bringing industry executives to campus. Corporate sponsors and physicians also run mini-medical school seminars, in which the physician presents information on a disease and discusses medical devices that are used in treatment. In addition, company and hospital tours give students the opportunity to visit healthcare facilities and learn about professional opportunities within local organizations.
Two- to three-day Biotech and Pharma Treks allow students to visit regions of the country with significant concentrations of healthcare companies, meet with company representatives and tour their facilities. And mock interviews and résumé reviews give first-year MBA students the chance to learn from second years while preparing for the recruiting process.
Kellogg hosts the annual Kellogg Business of Healthcare Conference (KBHC), which draws more than 400 participants each year to discuss and debate a topic in healthcare. The 2016 KBHC, “Consumer-Directed Healthcare: Improving Our Health System by Empowering Patients,” took place last month and featured keynote speakers Peter Harrison, global head of marketing insights for Cigna Healthcare, and Lee Shapiro, managing partner and co-founder of investment firm 7wire Ventures and executive chairman of Zest Health, dedicated to helping consumers better navigate their health options.
Another event, the annual MacEachern Symposium, takes place each spring, giving students an opportunity to explore the impact of healthcare policy on innovation. A daylong event designed to promote active discussion between Kellogg students and leaders in the field, the April 2016 MacEachern Symposium will feature MIT Professor of Economics Jonathan Gruber discussing public and private exchanges and what the future holds.
Finally, hosted by HEMA, the annual Kellogg Biotech & Healthcare Case Competition gives teams of students the opportunity to analyze a biotech-related case and present their solution to a panel of judges. The competition is sponsored by AbbVie, and a team of senior executives from the firm serves as judges.
Two teams from Kellogg took the top two spots in this year’s competition, a team from Chicago Booth School of Business placed third and teams from Johns Hopkins’ Carey Business School and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management received honorable mentions. This year marked the first year since 2010 that Kellogg won the event, and teams from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business won in both 2014 and 2015.
Admission Requirements
No background in science or healthcare is necessary for the HEMA major. The core class “Healthcare Systems” offers an overview of the health industry focusing on patient, payor, provider and the products, especially useful for students without prior experience in the field. Kellogg notes that students in the products track are encouraged to be literate in the sciences, but for that reason the school offers an elective, noncredit intensive science course, HEMA 910, in the fall quarter to give career-switching students the necessary vocabulary and framework to understand current biotech literature. Applicants interested in the HEMA major may indicate their interest as part of their application, but there is no requirement that they do so and there is no separate interview process for the major.
