Yale School of Management Launches New Degree Program for Healthcare Executives

New Haven, Conn., August 1, 2005—The charter class of the Yale MBA for Executives: Leadership in Healthcare program begin their first academic term today at the Yale School of Management. Leadership in Healthcare is the first degree program to be offered by the Yale School of Management on a schedule tailored to the needs of working executives.

Of the 22 students in the Class of 2007, 28 percent are women, 20 percent are M.D.’s, 16 percent are Ph.D.’s, and 36 percent hold other advanced degrees. They represent diverse sectors of healthcare including pharmaceuticals, biotech, managed care, medical devices, nonprofit and government health organizations, hospitals, private practice, consulting, and insurance.

Some of the most prominent health organizations in the country are supporting students in the program including Pfizer, Aetna, the American Red Cross, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fallon Community Health Plan, AmberGen, Public Health Foundation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Putnam Associates, Emergency Medical Associates, and the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory. Within these organizations, the students hold positions such as CEO, neurosurgeon, senior director of global research and development, chairman of the board, medical director, clinical scientist, clinical director, and actuarial manager. All will maintain their full-time management positions during the program.

“We designed the program to attract a diverse cross-section of healthcare leaders,” said Dr. Howard Forman, a co-director of the program. “If you put a pharmaceutical marketing executive, the CEO of an HMO, a doctor, and a patient advocate together in a classroom to talk about healthcare costs, it’s going to be a great debate. Each person is going to walk away with a new perspective on the challenges facing their peers, while at the same time, they are learning the skills to address their own challenges.”

A cross-sector approach was also designed into the curriculum. Faculty from the Yale Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Management teach the twenty-two month curriculum which integrates the marketing, financial, strategic, and organizational skills of the Yale MBA with an in-depth exploration of the human, economic, political, and technological issues that make healthcare a uniquely challenging managerial environment. Students will also undertake hands-on projects as part of a Field Studies course, and they will interact with prominent health practitioners through an ongoing Visiting Scholars Program. Visiting Scholars kicks off on August 3 with the panel discussion “Does the Invisible Hand Work in Healthcare?” featuring Andrew K. Bhak, a Director of Deutsche Bank Securities, Robert Galvin, M.D., Director of Global Healthcare for General Electric, and Sam Srivastava, CEO of AmeriChoice.

“Each student in the charter class is coming to the program for a different reason,” said Dr. Forman. “One is interested in the health system’s ability to pay for new medical technologies; another is passionate about improving care for underprivileged mothers and children. The common thread between them is that they all work in an often-troubled industry that is under enormous pressure to change and they have an earnest desire to be a part of that change. Our goal is to give them the skills they need to be national leaders in transforming and improving healthcare.”

Healthcare in Leadership is now taking applications for the Class of 2008. For more information, please visit: http://mbae.som.yale.edu/