Andrew Park, Tuck MD/MBA Class of 2019
Age: 34
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Undergraduate institution and major: University of California, Berkeley (B.A., Public Health)
Pre-MBA work experience: Prior to Dartmouth, I was working in a clinical and biomedical research laboratory studying the innate immune system in response to bacteria seen in acne vulgaris and leprosy. With an interest in healthcare delivery, I had also worked briefly with a start-up urgent care company expanding into the New York City area, helping them to initiate their telemedicine capabilities.
Post-MBA role: Immediately after graduating from Tuck, I spent the next four years in residency training: one year of internal medicine in Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center (where I helped treat some of the first cases of COVID-19 in California in the ICU) and three years of dermatology residency at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Since then, I have been working in private practice in Los Angeles, CA providing medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology services. In residency, I was involved with a start-up called Omi that aimed to build personalized skincare regimens for its users and started my social media profiles where I post content on dermatology and skincare. My following across Instagram and TikTok have now surpassed 110,000 followers.
Why did you pursue an MBA?
The writing was on the wall. And the writing is still on the wall, but now with bolder, larger, more frightening letters. The American Healthcare System is continuing to fracture and crumble under its own weight. It was a sentiment I had before Tuck, and it is now a belief that has become truer and more alarming. I did not believe that an education in medical school was sufficient to handle the problems of being a physician. Therefore, I applied for the joint MD-MBA Program.
Of course, paired with these problems are opportunities for improvement and growth. My aim was to use my MBA background to help me frame my understanding of the healthcare problem, and to be part of solutions to repair it (or completely rebuild it).
Why did you choose Dartmouth Tuck for your MBA? What factors figured most prominently into your decision?
I applied to Tuck as part of the Dartmouth MD-MBA Program. However, had I been applying to an MBA Program alone, Tuck would still be a top choice! It’s hard to precisely describe the enriching, warm, and close-knit community that you build at Tuck – and all in just two short years. You read those descriptors in your head and think, “Oh, that sounds nice.”
But when you feel it in your heart, having lived in the Tuck Fabric, you think, “Wow! I am so intertwined, in love with, and forever changed because of this community. I was the closest friend that helped them get through a death in the family. I was the classmate that helped them get through wedding planning, I was a best man. I’ve gone up in Delta Medallion Status because of how much I visit my Tuck friends. They’re the first I call when my days are great and awful.”
The education, too, is top notch. I appreciate the general management education with room to personalize (in my case focusing more of quantitative classes as this was a weakness of mine, and of course, healthcare). Tuck is an outward thinking school in a beautiful rural area – with that came an education in management by a generic pharmaceutical company in the sensory overload of India, to having a small dinner with a professor at their home in rural Vermont surrounded by snow and peace.
Why have you pursued a career in healthcare?
My decision was first to be a physician, then to apply for business school given the overwhelming and complex problems facing healthcare in the United States.
What offerings at Tuck, specifically, supported your healthcare career? And how did they do so?
There are specific healthcare courses that Tuck offers, in partnership with the Dartmouth Institute. However, because of the constantly evolving nature of the healthcare industry, I found the other general management courses to be of greater help; they provided a toolbox to understand the ever evolving problems of and within healthcare. The Communications course was immensely helpful in healthcare, as the strategies and language you would use to speak to administrators is completely different than those you would use for healthcare providers. Furthermore, the Managerial Accounting course is a standout, as it ties in themes of leadership and communication with the numbers – an often challenging balance to strike in healthcare.
