Healthcare MBA Programs Poised to Grow
To be sure, this is just a sampling of some of the best healthcare programs on offer at leading business schools today—and by no means a comprehensive list. Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Harvard Business School and Emory’s Goizueta Business School all also sent six percent or more of their most recent graduating classes into healthcare.
Every one of these schools offers unique advantages for students interested in the business of healthcare. Tuck features a Healthcare Initiative that combines coursework, independent studies and consulting projects for students while also bringing in experts in business and health policy and drawing on resources across the Dartmouth campus. The Health Care Initiative (HCI) at HBS recently launched a Precision Trials Challenge to draw ideas from the scientific, patient, business and medical communities to revolutions precision trials and bring targeted therapies to market faster. UCLA Anderson boasts an active student-run Healthcare Business Association that puts on an annual conference, seminars and a speaker series, as well as alumni networking, educational events and industry outreach. Goizueta, located in the shadow of the Center for Disease Control, frequently draws renowned health practitioners to campus.
And as medical/MBA student Shaan Patel can attest, Yale SOM also offers terrific healthcare courses, as well as valuable opportunities to collaborate with students and faculty from across Yale’s many schools, including through the Yale Healthcare and Life Sciences Club (YHLC), which draws more than 1,200 members from Yale SOM and the Yale graduate schools of medicine, engineering, public health, nursing, law, and arts and sciences.
Robert M. Pearl, president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group and a faculty member at Stanford Graduate School of Business, captured many of the challenges inherent in the business of healthcare in an article he contributed to Forbes. But he also summed up why healthcare management is drawing—and will continue to draw—some of the best and brightest business school students. “Equipped with the right framework, smart and passionate students have the opportunity to create meaningful health care innovations that will alter the paradigm of American medicine as we know it,” he wrote. “It won’t be easy. But those who go all in may fulfill their vision of changing the world. And in the process, they’ll realize the best outcome possible: improving the lives of people nationwide.”
As the healthcare industry continues to grow and evolve, global health issues continue to pose new challenges and career opportunities within healthcare continue to multiply, business schools will face increased demand from healthcare-focused students and will respond with even more robust offerings.
