Ep 26 | What You Need to Know About Healthcare MBA Programs

In this episode, Harold Simansky and Christine Patel discuss the landscape of MBA programs focused on healthcare. Christine shares her background in healthcare and her experiences applying to various MBA programs, including Stanford, Wharton, and Berkeley. They explore the differences between healthcare management programs and traditional MBA programs, the importance of geographical location in choosing a program, and the flexibility of curriculums in healthcare-focused MBAs. Christine also offers advice for prospective students on how to effectively convey their interest in healthcare during the application process.

Takeaways

• Christine Patel has a strong background in healthcare and management consulting.
• Wharton offers a dedicated healthcare management program with a strong alumni network.
• Geographical location plays a crucial role in healthcare education and opportunities.
• Many business schools have excellent entrepreneurial programs in healthcare.
• Healthcare is a broad field with various specializations and opportunities.
• Stanford GSB allows flexibility in course selection, including classes outside the business school.
• Prospective students should be specific about their interests in healthcare in their applications.
• Networking and alumni connections are vital in the healthcare sector.
• Berkeley Haas has a notable joint MBA/MPH program.
• Vanderbilt is recognized for its strong healthcare program due to its location in Nashville.

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Transcript

Harold Simansky (00:11)
Hi everyone, this is Harold Simansky with the mbaMission Podcast. I'm here today with my colleague Christine Patel. Hi Christine.

Christine Patel (00:18)
Hey, Harold.

Harold Simansky (00:19)
How's everything going with you?

Christine Patel (00:20)
it's going well, how about you?

Harold Simansky (00:22)
Good, going well, going well. And today we're talking about MBA programs with a focus on healthcare. And Christine, I know you went to Stanford with a focus on healthcare yourself, but I also know that you really looked at a lot of programs and you continue to keep your eye on the different MBA programs focused on healthcare. Why don't you just give us a little bit of background about yourself, about the programs and just what your thought is now. If I'm an applicant thinking about applying to an MBA who wants to really dive into health.

Christine Patel (00:49)
Yeah, no problem, Harold. So I worked primarily in healthcare before applying to business school. I worked in management consulting with pharmaceutical clients in New York City. And then I joined a startup in Silicon Valley that was started by two GSB founders. And it was called Epocrates. And I also helped start a free clinic that eventually became part of Stanford Medical School called Pacific Free Clinic.

And so from those experiences, I knew that I wanted to focus in healthcare. I've always had an interest in improving people's lives. And so I applied to only healthcare programs for MBA schools. I applied to Wharton's Healthcare Management Program, as well as Berkeley Haas MBA MPH Joint Program. And Stanford GSB at the time had a public management program and I focused in healthcare policy. I was very fortunate, I was admitted to all three schools and I decided to go to the GSB.

And the reasons why were primarily because I loved the culture. I wanted to stay in the Bay Area. I also felt like there was a lot of innovation and that the fit would be good for me. But honestly, all these other schools were excellent. There are so many great choices out there.

Harold Simansky (02:01)
One question I'm asked quite frequently is the one HCM program, how is it different? How is it the same as the usual, as when compared to the regular MBA program?

Christine Patel (02:05)
Yes.

Yes.

Yes, so June Kinney does a great program leading a specific health care management cohort. So that means that you have a specific group of students dedicated to just health care management. And so you apply separately. You say that you're interested in the health care management program. You actually have another interview run by June Kinney on, you know, for the health care management program in addition to this team simulation based warden interview. And then once admitted, you know, there's a program with a health care

curriculum as well as a dedicated program with a resume book, its own activities. I definitely think Wharton's one of the best healthcare management programs out there.

Harold Simansky (02:53)
Right, definitely, definitely. And what I've certainly heard from a lot of people is that over the past couple of years, the healthcare management program at Wharton has actually gotten a lot more entrepreneurial. So with that in mind, if I want to go into healthcare, but I also want to be an entrepreneur, how would I think about each one of these programs?

Christine Patel (03:04)
Yes.

Honestly, almost, I'd say every business school has an excellent entrepreneurial program. I don't think you could go wrong with so many of these schools out there. know, ever since I had applied a while back, I mean, there's so many more options than before, which I find very exciting. I think actually what's more unique is actually finding a program that has a healthcare concentration with, you know, specific courses.

as well as a strong network, know, looking at the alumni network. For example, I think Wharton's Healthcare Management Program has 2,000 alumni in its network for healthcare. It's really strong. I'd also look at, you know, if you want to do entrepreneurship in healthcare, healthcare is very broad. It depends what you're interested in. For example, if you want to do biotech, then maybe you want to focus in schools that either have, let's say like Harvard has an MS MBA biotech program, and it's in a hub for biotech, you know, Boston. You can look at where the

geographical hubs are, know, for biotech it's, you know, like Boston, San Francisco, San Diego. And, you know, so it just depends, I think, what you're interested in building as a company, as well as, you know, what your geographic preferences might be.

Harold Simansky (04:23)
I'm going to put a plug for my old school. Right now in Cambridge is one area called Kendall Square, which is the Silicon Valley biotech. Right in the middle of Kendall Square, happens to be a business school, and that's MIT Sloan School of Management. So at MIT Sloan School, if you want to go and buy a new tech, you just walk out the back door, and there you are. But again, there's a lot of great programs when I think about it here. I also think about places like Duke, which has such great advice to the really the

Christine Patel (04:31)
Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Harold Simansky (04:52)
So we'd say the hospital, hospital administration, just much larger pharmaceuticals are down in North Carolina. And that also is a pretty exciting place. Yeah.

Christine Patel (04:58)
Yep, there's a lot of research going on in the research triangle area there. Melinda Gates is alum of Duke, both undergrad and the business school. And having her run the Gates Foundation in the past has been amazing. So every business school, think a lot of them have very specific programs. Obviously Stanford GSB is in the epicenter of Silicon Valley. so you have not only-

biotech there, but you have a lot of health tech that you don't see as much or diagnostic companies. It's very exciting. It's near San Francisco, which is considered currently the epicenter for AI. And as you know, there's a lot of AI and health care going on. So I feel like there's just, it's a very exciting time right now.

Harold Simansky (05:43)
Yeah, definitely. And it's sort of funny where you can get a really great healthcare MBA. And part of that has to do with, like you said, geography. I've had a number of clients who were interested in healthcare go down to Vanderbilt. Because as they say about Nashville, you're either making country music or you're in healthcare. That's the two things you can do in Nashville. no, at this point, apparently, I'm a great football team. So, but.

Christine Patel (05:51)
Yes.

Yes.

Yes, now that's exactly right.

Yes, Vanderbilt obviously has a very strong healthcare program. I think it's in the double digits, the percentage of alumni graduating into healthcare there because Nashville is such a big epicenter for healthcare. Also, healthcare is really broad. It just depends what area. So, like venture investing in healthcare, obviously places like New York, San Francisco, maybe Boston would be interesting or healthcare finance in New York City. So it just depends really what you're into.

Harold Simansky (06:36)
right, right, right. Definitely, definitely. And honestly, then you start bubbling up from the other direction, meaning very entrepreneurial schools, like University of Texas, McCombs. It has just a wonderful sort of entrepreneurial environment. And now healthcare is everywhere. Biotech is everywhere, particularly at University of Texas, such a big, such a huge campus. It's just a huge system that you're going to find your way into healthcare there, HealthTech there as well. Yeah.

Christine Patel (06:41)
Yes.

Yes.

Yes, exactly. There's so many great programs out there. I Kellogg, you know, obviously is one of the best in healthcare. You know, they have a case competition specifically in healthcare. does Ross, actually University of Michigan. People love, you know, Ross. I've had colleagues in healthcare from all these schools that you've, you we've mentioned Duke, you know. And so I feel like there's so many great options out there. I mentioned this earlier, Harvard has a new program.

Harold Simansky (07:26)
That's right.

Christine Patel (07:27)
that with the biotech masters as well as an MBA. And I think that's really exciting. You know, I have a few clients applying in that program and it's really an amazing program. The opportunities in research as well as melding the science a little bit more depth. So I think that's a great program to look for if you're interested in that area.

Harold Simansky (07:50)
Yeah, definitely. And Christine, you mentioned a program that honestly I'm less aware of, and that I guess is what's happening at Berkeley. You said they have an MBA as well as degree in public health.

Christine Patel (07:57)
yeah. Yeah, yes. Berkeley Haas has an amazing program. Whether or not you're in the joint MPH MBA program or just the normal MBA program, I think a good number, somewhere between 6 to 8 % of graduates in Haas actually go into healthcare. You know, it's close to San Francisco, you know, close to health tech, biotech, health systems and policy. you know, that honestly Berkeley is an amazing program. I've worked with people

who graduated there at Genentech and also when I was at a startup called Hippocrates, and they're honestly amazing leaders. It's really a great program.

Harold Simansky (08:36)
that makes sense that I think one of the issues that we always have with those business schools and by no means all of them that actually have specific curriculum. So whether it's they call it a major, they call it a track or they potentially call it a certificate, sometimes feel constrained by those. When you were in Stanford, did you feel constrained by having to be a healthcare focus or was it something that was actually quite more flexible than it may imply?

Christine Patel (08:50)
Yes.

Yes.

It was very flexible. I had the opportunity to take many types of classes. So I took foundational classes at the GSB, like accounting, finance, etc. But I also took entrepreneurship classes that were just general classes. I helped starting a new class actually that's still going called Healthcare Innovation at Stanford. I actually pulled a professor Allen and Enzo Venato retirement to make that happen and still going on right now. Yeah.

Harold Simansky (09:21)
Come on.

Wow, that's great. That's great.

Christine Patel (09:29)
And at the same time, I took classes across the street, you know, at in the bio X building. You can take classes with the medical school, which is exciting or engineering. And there's a new program from John Doerr. You he helped funding environmental program. And so there's all these great things that Stanford and then the design school. That was one area I didn't take a class in, but I know a bunch of my peers actually went to the school to take some courses there. So.

Honestly, you can take so many different classes at Stanford. It's quite amazing.

Harold Simansky (10:00)
Right, no, no, that is amazing. On another podcast, we're gonna talk to you just about your experience at Stanford. So listeners, you can wait for that or catch up with us on our podcast channel. Christine, this was really, really terrific today. Any sort of last words of wisdom for those people interested in healthcare or biotech and applying to business school?

Christine Patel (10:05)
Okay.

Yeah, I'd say, you know, I think it's, well, it's great to show an interest in healthcare, you know, writing about that in your essays and talking about it in your interviews. I would say with my clients that I've worked with, one feedback I'd give is just getting more specific. So, you know, instead of saying, I really like this class or I like being in this club, there's a healthcare club, you know, everywhere, I think diving deeper than that, like give me specific reasons why, you know, maybe I met someone

Harold Simansky (10:44)
Yeah, right.

Christine Patel (10:50)
that was really passionate about rare diseases and I want to make a difference in this area given my experience in rare disease in clinical trials. And I can see myself here, you know, specifically doing that after talking with this alum and looking at this class, like just bring it, pull it in more together, you know, on what specifically you want to do instead of just saying, like, you know, this school for this program and this, and this club. I hope that helps.

Harold Simansky (11:16)
No, no, really, it absolutely does help. And what I will say though, if you want to spend 30 minutes just talking to Christine about anything, about your business school admissions, about healthcare MBAs, about your own profile, this year's landscape, by all means, if you want to speak to Christine, sign up for our free 30 minute mbaMission consultation. And you can speak to Christine, you can speak to me, you can speak to any one of our 20 or so colleagues. It's absolutely free.

Christine Patel (11:43)
Thank

Harold Simansky (11:43)
What's also free is what's on our mbaMission website. And we have huge resources, interview guides, school guides, blog posts about healthcare. And it's really, I think, great resource. But with that in mind, Christine, thank you, thank you, thank you for appearing on the podcast today. And I look forward to doing it again with you sometime soon.

Christine Patel (11:57)
Thanks.

You're welcome, Harold. My