BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama at Birmingham is expanding the institution’s business and medical education through the addition of a dual Doctor of Medicine and Master of Business Administration degree.
The Collat School of Business has partnered with UAB’s School of Medicine to develop a program aiming to provide M.D./MBA graduates the best possible trajectory to expand their career options, and to create future physician-executives.
The new dual-degree program will give medical students the training and education to better understand the business side of health care, through providing courses in accounting and finance, economics, marketing, management, health care innovation, operations, and supply chain management with a focus on health care, as well as information technology and business strategy with a focus on health care.
“Changes in the health care field are opening more doors for physicians,” said Eric Jack, Ph.D., dean of the Collat School of Business. “From the way health care is delivered, to the evolution of medical informatics, the industry is constantly transforming. Earning an MBA opens medical students up to new, innovative ways of thinking, and provides our medical school graduates with not only more career options, but also the ability to actively participate in shaping the future of health care.”
The program is an integrative, four-year degree that combines business management courses with the M.D. curricula, and is designed specifically not to interfere with the rigors of the first two years of medical school. Students start their business classes the summer before medical school. The remaining courses are offered at strategic intervals after the second year of medical school and after students have taken the important United States Medical Licensing Examination.
“I’m excited for what the dual-degree option means for future students,” said Leah Strickland, a fourth-year medical student at UAB who is also in the MBA program. She enrolled in MBA courses last year to gain a competitive advantage toward getting matched with her first-choice residency program. “The medical students will have the ability to gain knowledge in two fields that will only serve to broaden their potential opportunities.”
In addition to traditional coursework, M.D./MBA students will be able to participate in private health-specific professional development and networking sessions designed for them. These lunches and workshops are designed to keep medical students engaged throughout the program, particularly during the two-year period in which they take only medical courses.
Additionally, the program caters to a medical student’s busy schedule with concierge service. Students in the program are automatically enrolled in the business courses they need, and their books and materials are supplied to them. They also are paired with mentors with dual degrees.
“The addition of this program further emphasizes how UAB continues to innovate and grow to ensure it remains a top-destination medical school,” said Selwyn Vickers, M.D., senior vice president and dean of UAB’s School of Medicine. “Students will have even more opportunities to learn about their field of choice, and that in turn will make them that much more competitive, both in their applications to residencies and in their ultimate entrance into the job market.”
“A business education gives physicians the competitive advantage to become executive decision-makers and place them on a fast-moving career ladder,” said Majd Zayafoon, M.D., MBA, co-director of the new program.
“The dual M.D./MBA graduates will not only understand their patients and their needs, they will also innovate the effectiveness and efficiency of medical practice as a whole,” Zayafoon said. “Medicine is often seen as a vocation, and this does not sit comfortably with business. However, while medicine can help a few, medicine and business combined generates growth and helps the masses. We have to always remember that practicing medicine is a career, fixing ailing bodies is a skill, and managing health care is a business.”
UAB’s M.D./MBA program is accepting applicants for the summer of 2016 for first-year medical students.
For more information about UAB’s M.D./MBA dual-degree and an application, please visit the program’s website.
About the UAB School of MedicineWith more than 800 medical students and a faculty of more than 1,200, the School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of the premier academic medical centers in the United States. UAB is among the top 20 schools in research funding from the National Institutes of Health and is routinely listed among the best in various national rankings. UAB’s Medical-Scientist Training Program (M.D.-Ph.D.), Rural Medical Scholars Program and Early Medical School Acceptance Program are a few of the innovations on campus that foster collaboration across a multitude of disciplines. As the educational arm of UAB Medicine, students and residents train in a world-class setting; UAB Hospital’s 1,200 beds places it in among the largest hospitals in the country. Doctoral students in UAB’s Graduate Biomedical Sciences Program participate in interdisciplinary thematic programs that integrate more than 25 departments and 20 research centers across UAB. At the UAB School of Medicine, we discover knowledge that changes your world.
About the UAB Collat School of BusinessThe University of Alabama at Birmingham Collat School of Business is an AACSB-accredited school located in Alabama’s economic epicenter and offers innovative bachelor’s and master’s degree programs on campus and online. Its emphasis on leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship nurtures academic achievement and prepares students for rapidly changing, global business challenges. Easily accessible to businesses and UAB’s world-class medical center, the school attracts a diverse student body and provides one-of-a-kind programs and year-round internship opportunities for experiential learning. Find more information at uab.edu/business.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a separate, independent institution from the University of Alabama, which is located in Tuscaloosa. Please use University of Alabama at Birmingham on first reference and UAB on all subsequent references.
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/UAB.edu TEXT: www.uab.edu/news TWEETS: www.twitter.com/uabnews VIDEO: www.youtube.com/uabnews
RSS