Samuel Bennett

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

“British doctor (civilian and military), with experience founding, leading and growing medical technology start-ups.”

Hometown: London, UK

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve loved running (and any sport which involves it) for as long as I can remember! I’m currently preparing for the Philadelphia marathon in November, followed by a couple of ultramarathons across the US in 2022.

Undergraduate School and Major:

Undergraduate: University of Birmingham (UK): Public Health (2015), Medicine and Surgery (2017)

Postgraduate: Commission from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (England)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: UK National Health Service (Surgical Trainee), British Army (Doctor), Affinity Altitude (Co-founder)

What word best describes the Wharton MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far and why? Community. Whilst early on in the program, the healthcare management class culture has been one of shared collectiveness, collaboration and inclusion – both in and out of school.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the Wharton School’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? During the MBA application process, every student and alumnus I connected with spoke reverently of the depth and impact that the healthcare management course at Wharton had upon each of their lives. Coming from a clinical and entrepreneurial background, I wanted to immerse myself amongst a cohort of individuals also passionate about healthcare, but spread across the industry: consulting, banking, PE, VC, biotech etc. The underlying idea was that each encounter with my classmates would then facilitate an overall exponential learning experience — ultimately providing me with a greater holistic understanding of global healthcare provision. Similarly, I also wanted to provide my insights and share my experiences of healthcare across the UK, China, Japan and Kenya.

What course, club, or activity excites you the most at the Wharton School? Alongside getting stuck into the soccer, tennis and veterans clubs, I am also particularly excited to contribute to Wharton’s Digital Health Podcast – “The Pulse”. Here I hope to talk about all things digital health in both the US and Europe – connecting founders and investors with the wider digital health community.

When you think of the Wharton School, what is the first word that comes to mind? Why? Transformation. Transformation encompasses the mindset of not only the students entering the Wharton MBA program, but also the program and annual cohort selected. The dynamic course structure and student body is constantly being reinvented, adapted and modified to reflect values held in wider society and champion diversity.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Having founded and scaled a sporting performance and physiology start-up (Affinity Altitude) in 2019, when the Covid-19 pandemic reached the UK in early 2020, I felt a sense of duty to not only pivot the company for it to survive but to also play our role to help society. The pace and scale of the collaborative innovation seen around the world at the beginning of and through 2020 was nothing short of remarkable.

To start our contribution, I united domain experts from government, industry, and research centers across the UK. Within two weeks, we had developed a sterile self-isolation tent with a virally filtered air supply to limit the spread of airborne infections in densely populated areas (such as hospitals, hospices and care homes). This concept and design was then freely distributed for maximum impact and discussed with senior leaders and policy makers within the UK government and National Health Service.

How did COVID-19 change your perspective on your career and your life in general? The pandemic was a catalyst – both professionally and personally. As COVID-19 hit the UK, I was working full time as a trauma surgical trainee in the National Health Service and British Army, alongside being half way through a seed funding round for Affinity Altitude. What was once a busy, but organized, schedule was now chaotic. I made the decision to focus my efforts on frontline clinical provision, being redeployed to an Intensive Care Unit in a major London Hospital. Simultaneously, I also withdrew our company from the funding round, pivoted it to survive, and assisted where possible on innovative solutions to slow the spread of COVID-19. The process of forming then steering the company through the pandemic convinced me that entrepreneurship, or guiding entrepreneurs, within the healthcare space was what I was passionate about.

From a personal perspective, whilst the adrenaline of the first few months kept me going, it became clear that once this wore off I was spreading myself too thin and at risk of burnout. Once identified, this led to a reshuffle to better balance my life.

These cumulative experiences have also reinforced to me the importance of developing a community of valued mentors consisting of family, friends and colleagues to cultivate resilience — a trait that I consider to be of upmost importance for both my personal and professional development.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? Going through a seed funding round with Affinity Altitude, I felt that I understood our product and most importantly the people who we were serving. However, at the time, I also felt that I was unable to clearly visualize the associated financial and strategic elements. The frustration of wanting to understand these elements led to the initial thought that an MBA could be a platform to facilitate this process.

Now at Wharton, alongside developing these skillsets and a transatlantic healthcare network, I hope to consolidate my background in medicine, public health and entrepreneurship, to identify and build technology assisted platforms that ultimately empower patients and enhance population health.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Stanford GSB (admitted), London Business School (admitted)

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into the Wharton School’s MBA program?

1. Practice authentic self-exploration and if comfortable discuss this with your mentors.

2. Think early about which mentors you would like to be your referees – choose those who care and are invested in your development, this will shine through in their statements.

3. Reach out and form meaningful connections where possible with current students/alumni at Wharton – speak to them candidly about their experience.

4. Keep a balance on work/life (pre, during and post application) and view your social circle as part of your professional development.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE WHARTON SCHOOL’S MBA CLASS OF 2023