New program to offer joint M.D./M.B.A.

by Lew Harris

Vanderbilt is in the process of producing doctors who can analyze a company's financial statement with the same ease as they diagnose a common cold, thanks to a new joint M.D./M.B.A. program that begins this fall.

The program joins about 15 others already in existence at other schools around the United States, according to Dr. Alexander C. McLeod, clinical professor of medicine and an adjunct professor of management. He credits the program's development to Dr. Deborah C. German, senior associate dean of medical education in the School of Medicine, and Nancy Lea Hyer, associate dean for academic programs in the Owen Graduate School of Management.

"The program will provide future physicians with an opportunity to acquire critical business skills that will better prepare them to contribute to and shape the business of medicine," said Hyer. "We are excited about having a cadre of medical students as part of our M.B.A. program. They will bring a different perspective and varied set of issues to classroom discussions. This will benefit all our students."

"Society needs doctors who understand business and medicine," said German. "The opportunity to unite degrees from both the Medical School and the Owen School represents a major step forward in Vanderbilt's ability to respond to the needs of the nation while still maintaining a superb educational focus."

McLeod said the idea of a joint M.D./M.B.A. program was on the drawing board for about 12 years, however, the timing wasn't right until recently.

"The key was getting Debbie and Nancy Lea together," he said. "They hit it off, and within six months it was a done deal."

The first two students enrolled in the program are Christopher Ambrose and Sharat Kusuma. They recently completed their third year at the Vanderbilt Medical School and, like their classmates, are in the midst of clinical rotations this summer.

In August, they will join the first-year class at the Owen School and take courses for the full academic year. In June 2001, Ambrose and Kusuma will resume their medical training and continue through the following December. They will then spend the spring semester of 2002 back at Owen.

The two students should complete both degrees in five years, saving a year of tuition costs and time spent in school, according to McLeod. Medical school ordinarily takes four years and the Owen School program two years. Ambrose and Kusuma also played a role in jump-starting the new program.

"Because of the widespread use of the Internet, I think medicine is heading in the direction of the electronic health-care industry," Ambrose said. "That way, we can help hook up patients, doctors and pharmacies online in order to operate more efficiently and deliver better health care."