8 Reasons to Get an MD/MBA

8 Reasons to Get an MD/MBA

By: Atasha Jordan, MD, MBA

What is the MD/MBA?

The MD/MBA dual degree is a combination of a Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Business Administration (MBA). On their own, these degrees allow physicians and businesspeople to succeed professionally. Together, the MD/MBA opens doors for practicing and non-practicing physicians to impact the business side of healthcare and beyond. 

The 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 MBA to augment the scope of your impact as an MD interested in business. Below are eight reasons to get an MD/MBA. I split the reasons into three categories: academic, professional, and social.

ACADEMIC benefits of an MD/MBA:

1. 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 getting 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 the many different industries that exist within the business world. What’s more important is the new perspective that this exposure will allow you to bring back to the field of medicine. Medical school and clinical practice can become quite insular given the all-consuming culture at many schools and hospitals. We learn to think about healthcare from the perspective of patients and providers. On the other hand, business school classes can be rather broad as they draw on learnings from real estate, investment banking, marketing, consumer packaged goods and more. Thus, 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 MD/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 employment options or leave clinical practice altogether. When you learn about other industries in business school, as I mentioned in reason #2 to pursue an MD/MBA, 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. There are also dozens of other universities in the US and Canada that offer MD/MBA programs. 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. One can argue that 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 future 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 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

In my year and a half as an MBA student, Wharton 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 worked 1:1 with an executive coach to bolster my professional strengths and address my weaknesses. These are just a few examples of the many professional development opportunities offered in business school. Medical schools have little to no emphasis on professional development, so professional development 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 and clinical practice are no walk in the park. 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 was 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 more times than not, I recommend that business-minded MDs get an MBA. It not only helps you professionally, but it can be a really fun break from medical life. Just make sure that you have a clear plan as to how you would use the MBA to advance your career.

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 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, venture capital, private equity, 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 professional dreams become a reality.

In conclusion:

The MD/MBA isn’t for everyone, but there certainly are some key benefits to getting an MD/MBA. Whatever the scope of impact you hope to have on the business of healthcare, an MD/MBA can be an academically, professionally, or socially life-changing experience for clinicians who are interested in business.

Atasha Jordan, MD, MBA is a recent graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and The Wharton School. Dr. Jordan will be a psychiatry intern at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital System, where she is excited to both work with patients and help change the models of mental health care delivery. Atasha blogs about her experiences as a dual degree doc at atashajordan.com. You can also find her on social media via @atashajordan. 

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