Is An MBA Right For A Healthcare Career? A Sloanie Weighs In

I grew up in Zurich, Switzerland, and moved to the UK to study for degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Neuroscience. I slowly realized that conducting research and being in the lab was not something I wanted to do, and that I was more interested in the business of healthcare. I explored this route by starting my professional career in consulting, first in London and then in Singapore, working on international growth and strategy projects for healthcare companies and public health organizations.

A few years into my job, I worked on a one-year project with an NGO and the Pakistani government to rebuild the country’s failing tuberculosis supply chain. I heard government officials debating on how best to manage a meagre disease budget, doctors on the front-lines pleading for systemic change to the health system, and witnessed lines of patients waiting endlessly at overwhelmed clinics for medication that would keep them alive. Working directly with all of these stakeholders had an immeasurable impact on me. I was able to develop a clear career focus – that I wanted to dedicate myself to transforming healthcare.

After this experience, I decided that it was the right time to pursue an MBA to shape the next phase of my career. It was an opportunity to complement my life sciences background with a business degree. In addition, it provided me with a generous opportunity to truly reset and discover where within a healthcare career I wanted to land, whether it be with an established healthcare company, entrepreneurship or global health.

However, I did have my reservations about pursuing the degree. Would an MBA program, a typical pathway for career switches, consultants and product managers, really be additive towards furthering a career in healthcare? And which MBA program would be right for this journey?

WHY MIT SLOAN?

I approached these questions as any consultant would do – I created a large spreadsheet. US MBA programs were mapped across my personal criteria for school selection, for example school reputation, healthcare focus, entrepreneurship opportunities – all of which were weighted on importance. After researching key schools meticulously, MIT Sloan School of Management had floated to the top.

The program provided great flexibility to mix and match my interest areas. MIT Sloan had a deep entrepreneurial ecosystem with the Martin Trust Centre for Entrepreneurship and a dedicated Entrepreneurship & Innovation certificate. It boasted impact-oriented healthcare opportunities including action learning labs, such as 15.777 Healthcare Lab, and working directly with start-ups in the Boston biotech ecosystem in classes such as 7.546 Science and Business of Biotechnology.

In addition, the collaborative, curiosity-driven and hands-on attitude of students became clear after talking to alumni and current students.

Things that resonated with me included the culture of “Sloanies helping Sloanies”, the intersection between science/engineering and business, and MIT’s coveted motto “Mens et Manus (Latin for “Mind and Hand”). This motto encapsulates how MIT’s classes and student’s prioritized a hands-on approach to solving problems. Someone once told me: “Out of all MBA students, I like hiring Sloanies the most, because their priority is to get things done.”

Looking back, I was a bit apprehensive of an MBA attracting a cutthroat “every person for themselves” mentality, with students competing for the same jobs and opportunities. Instead, I discovered MIT Sloan had a group of the most sincere, collaborative and smart people I have met.

Admission to an MBA program is a two-way relationship; both you and the school must choose each other, and there was a match in values.

THE PREPARATION PROCESS

Whilst I was working full-time, I spent my mornings and Sundays preparing for my MBA applications. After six months of studying for GRE prep, collecting references, preparing multiple essays and an embarrassing video submission, I was given the opportunity to interview with MIT Sloan admissions. It turned out to be less of an interview and more of a conversation, where the interviewer wanted to learn more about me rather than “quantifying” any aspect of my background. The best tip for the interview is to be your authentic self, and let your passion and excitement shine through.

A few weeks later, I got a call from an unknown number. I stepped away from my desk and took the call from the balcony outside of our office in Singapore.

“Hi Josh, this is Rod from MIT Sloan admissions. I have some good news for you.” I was ecstatic.

The next two years of my life were a breathtaking whirlwind of meeting new people, imposter syndrome in class, Whatsapp groups detailing where on campus they were serving free food, “informal” coffee chats, and those famed MBA trips.

In an MBA program, you get pulled in so many different directions. MIT Sloan was no different. Many times I was drawn by the allure of application deadlines for MBB consulting, Big Tech and others (many recruiters offering the free food mentioned earlier). But I always had to take a step back and realize what I truly came here for – how could I use my MBA at MIT Sloan to transform healthcare? Keeping focused on my objective allowed me to find these opportunities.

STAYING FOCUSED IN HEALTHCARE AT MIT SLOAN

Staying focused in healthcare was not too difficult. Firstly, MIT Sloan is located in Kendall Square, which boasts the highest density of biotech companies globally, earning the nickname “the most innovative square on the planet.”

MIT Sloan’s proximity to biotechnology companies, hospitals and healthcare startups meant that there were healthcare classes and opportunities aplenty. I debated my classmates on US healthcare policy in the 15.141 Economics of Health Care Industries class, wrote an investment target report on a biotechnology company in 7.546 Science and Business of Biotechnology, led by the esteemed Professor Harvey Lodish (he wrote many of my biology textbooks I meticulously studied in undergrad) and Professor Andrew Lo (a beloved professor at MIT Sloan who was voted to give the closing lecture for our Class of 2023). I was even able to cross-register to classes completely disparate from a typical MBA, including GHP 202 Comparative Health Systems at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, where I sat in class as the lone MBA among students who were previously doctors, public health workers and international department of health officials.

Outside our classes, I was in the company of ~70 other MIT Sloan students who were interested in the healthcare industry. Together, we had formed our own connections and clubs. With these bright and ambitious classmates, I co-led the MIT Sloan Healthcare and Bioinnovations Conference. I formed a team to participate in the MIT Hacking Medicine hackathon, pitching our venture in front of hundreds of industry professionals. Over one semester, I volunteered to support my professor to commercialize her revolutionary health-tech device.

These activities were all amidst breaks in MIT’s famous banana lounge, sailing the Charles River between classes, and taking advantage of the outlandish and fascinating MIT classes that had nothing to do with career (special shout-out to ES.S70 Where Is Everybody? Arguments For and Against the Existence of Extraterrestrial Civilizations).

And despite trying to stay focused at MIT Sloan recruiting and career-wise, I took the opportunity to get pulled into all sorts of directions socially. I had a riotous time by just saying “yes” to so many things – including a 70-person Saudi Arabia trek, supporting new joiners during an orientation weekend as an MBA Core Fellow, and spending my January in Buenos Aires working with a start-up as part of Global Entrepreneurship Lab.

IS AN MBA RIGHT FOR A HEALTHCARE CAREER?

I now work in Strategy and Operations at a fast-growing health-tech company, where I get to bring together everything I learned at MIT Sloan—whether it’s applying entrepreneurship tools in kick-starting a new business unit, or applying lessons from U.S. and global health policy to guide our go-to-market approach.

However, as I look back at my original question posed in this article – Is an MBA right for a healthcare career? I have come to the conclusion that the answer is unequivocally yes. At MIT Sloan, not only will the healthcare-related classes, events, clubs and career coaching prepare you well for the industry, but the healthcare network you build is just as powerful as any from the MBA. A few weeks after joining my company full-time, I referred a classmate who was interested in pivoting to healthcare through our company portal. A week later, she landed her interview, and shortly after that, we were working next to each other in the office. Our MIT Sloan healthcare group is in constant contact, and work in exciting places from healthcare start-ups, large biopharmaceutical companies to global health organizations.

The power of the MBA network and the “Sloanies helping Sloanies” mentality is something I have observed first-hand to be incredibly powerful, and I can see it being invaluable for the rest of my career.

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Joshua Marcovici is a MIT Sloan MBA from the Class of 2023. He has 8-plus years of experience in healthcare strategy consulting and health-tech start-ups, where he has led go-to-market strategy and product launches working across the EU, APAC and the US. He currently resides in New York City.

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