Meet The Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2018

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Hiroaki Kobayashi (Nickname is Kobby)

University of Michigan, Stephan M. Ross School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: An enthusiastic emergency physician hoping to make healthcare more reliable and quality-controlled place through business.

Hometown: Tokyo, Japan

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am a collector of fridge magnets. I buy at least a magnet in each city or place I visit. My fridge is literally covered with the magnets and perhaps I need to buy another fridge.Ā 

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Tokyo School of Medicine

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

  • Resident physician at University of Tokyo Hospital
  • Clinical Fellow in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care at University of Tokyo Hospital and Hitachi General Hospital
  • Medical Director at JOMDD, Inc., a medical device incubator.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: It was the successful commercialization of an innovative medical device in the U.S. and several other countries. This is invented by a Japanese heart surgeon and will probably change the textbooks worldwide in the near future.Ā 

Leading reform of ER system in the University of Tokyo Hospital with the director. This led to the dramatic increase of ER activity: ambulances transferred rose from 100 a month in 2012 to 500 per month in 2014, making the hospital the top national university hospital for number of emergency patients.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? Starting early enough is probably the most important. Looking backwards, I think I should have started earlier because I did not have enough time for taking both GMAT and TOEFL due to my jobs (yes, I had two jobs: a company and a hospital). Although I did not meet any alumni until the interview due to my time constraints, now I do believe that talking with alumni is very beneficial to understand the culture of the schools and that all Ross alumni are welcoming and friendly. (I got to know after I was admitted.)

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? As my background is healthcare, I was looking for a school with strong healthcare management program and medical center in a same campus. With great medical centers and the school of public health in the same place, I hope Ross is one of the best MBA program for students with healthcare backgrounds.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? Venture capital with strong focus in healthcare. My biggest career interest is how healthcare can become more reliable, quality-controlled and efficient. I believe that new technologies will dramatically change the way people are treated and I want to contribute to it using what I learning and networks I will create during my two years at Ross.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? Everyone meets several, or more, friends or classmates who not only are good friends, but also have significant impacts on their career or their life. I would like to be one of those who can have a positive impact in some way on many of my classmates at Ross.

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