The Master of Business Administration (MBA) has become popular among medical students and physicians who are interested in working at the intersection of medicine and business. However, an MBA is by no means required for a physician to be involved in the business of healthcare or business more broadly speaking. Drs. Robert Pearl, Patrick Soon-Shiong, and Janice Nevin are just a few examples of physicians who have made a positive impact in healthcare management and business without an MBA. Nonetheless, there certainly are advantages to pursuing an MD/MBA. Below are 8 reasons to get an MD/MBA. I split the reasons into 3 categories: academic, professional, and social.
ACADEMIC benefits of an MBA
1. Talk shop: Learn business lingo
One of the challenges facing many physicians who want to branch out into the business world is a lack of understanding of business lingo. We know all about osteomyelitis, rhabdomyolysis, and personality disorders, but many of us don’t know about capital budgeting, debits and credits, or net present value.
The foundation courses of business school are perfect for catching MDs up to speed on the terminology and concepts central to business. Classes like Corporate Finance, Statistics, Marketing, Operations, and Corporate Strategy acclimate MDs to the topics that help to differentiate good from great physician executives.
2. Learn about other industries
An MBA will open your perspective to all of the different industries that exist within the business world. What’s more important is the new perspective that you can bring back to the field of medicine. Medical school and clinical practice can become pretty insular given the all-consuming culture at many schools and hospitals. We learn to think about healthcare from the perspective of other clinicians. However, business school classes draw on learnings from real estate, investment banking, marketing, consumer packaged goods and more. So, an MBA is a great way to use other industries as case studies for the improvements that can occur in healthcare.
PROFESSIONAL benefits of an MBA
3. Gain exposure to alternative career options
Clinical practice is one of many ways to use an MD. I’ve increasingly encountered medical students and physicians who seek to either augment their clinical practice with other work options or leave clinical practice altogether. When you learn about other industries as I mentioned in reason #2, you open up your mind to the breadth of career options that exist. Whether you want to continue practicing with a side hustle in consulting, or you want to leave clinical practice to become a venture capitalist, an MBA gives you exposure to many alternative career options.
4. Enrich your perspective on medicine
A common trend in medicine revolves around the need for better communication between physicians and administrators in the healthcare space. What better way to serve as a boundary spanner than by going to school to specifically learn how to run a health system or practice. Business schools like the Wharton School offer Healthcare Management programs that cater specifically to physicians hoping to have an impact in health administration. It’s definitely possible to become a healthcare administrator as an MD, but your effectiveness increases as a result of skillsets that you can gain with an MD/MBA.
The MBA has taught me a lot about the business of medicine - things that I did not learn in medical school. As someone who wants to be involved in the innovation of mental health care delivery, this enlightened perspective will serve me well in my career. Because of my healthcare management coursework in managed care and comparative global health, to name a few, I will be more critical and effective in my approach to improving mental health care. One can argue that many of these management skills could be learned on the job as a hospital administrator, but there’s something to be said for entering the field of healthcare management with at least a theoretical understanding of the landscape. That helps to flatten out the learning curve for physician executives.
5. Kickstart your own business
Business schools offer a plethora of opportunities for students interested in founding a business. The Wharton School has several prizes to fund student-founded companies. UCLA Anderson has Quantvex, a venture incubator that students can opt into. Some of the resources that business school offers include help with making a business plan, incorporating your business, or pitching to investors. In addition to the official school resources, classmates in business school are another huge resource. Whether you're looking for co-founders or trying to gain industry knowledge, business school can help you to get your business idea off the ground.
6. Access unique professional development opportunities
Wharton has exceeded my rather high expectation mainly due to the breadth of professional development opportunities that the school offers. I traveled to India to speak with top executives and government officials; I traveled to Morocco and Mexico while making new friends; I participated in a leadership program where I helped to usher the new Wharton class into their business school experience; I participated in small group communications workshops to improve my public speaking skills; and I will work 1:1 with an executive coach to bolster my professional strengths and address my weaknesses. These are just a few of the many examples of professional development opportunities offered at Wharton, and other business schools. Medical schools have little to no emphasis on professional development, so this might actually be one of the biggest takeaways for MDs who are considering the MD/MBA.
SOCIAL benefits of an MBA
7. Take a break from medical school or clinical work
We all know that medical school is no walk in the park. I hear that being a practicing physician isn’t that much easier. Whether it’s from studying for exams, surviving the rigors of clerkship year or seeing more patients than you thought was humanly possible, many medical students and physicians experience burnout at some point in their careers. As someone going into psychiatry, mental health and self-care are two things that I encourage others to focus on. As has been the case for me, business school can help to refuel the emotional and motivational tank. Yes, there is debt associated with business school, and you should do the cost-benefit analysis to make sure that the MBA will pay off, but 7 times out of 10, I recommend that business-minded MDs get an MBA as a really fun break from medical life, as long as they have a clear plan as to how they would use the dual degree.
8. Build your network
Medical school exposes you to like-minded future clinicians. Doctors are a special group of people, but we make up a very small subset of the professional sphere. Business school is an opportunity to vastly broaden your social (and professional) network. At Wharton, I’ve met classmates from around the world who have worked in literally every industry that you can think of. Even in the realm of healthcare, my classmates have experience in med devices, VC, PE, and consulting. MDs benefit from the rich network of business school, both socially and professionally. The MD/MBA sets you up to be in the network of people who can help your dream become a reality.
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The MD/MBA isn’t for everyone, but there certainly are some key benefits to getting an MD/MBA. Check out this post for a list of MD/MBA programs in the US and Canada.
Additionally, If you're interested in connecting with other medical professionals who are interested in the intersection of medicine and business, check out White Coats | Black Blazers - a community of business-minded medical professionals.
Peace and blessings,
Atasha Jordan, MD (to be)
