Rethinking The MD/MBA Pathway: Why Timing Matters
MD-MBA programs have grown in popularity. Should they be?
When I was a medical student, I was among the few who pursued and completed a joint MD/MBA degree. At the time, it felt pioneering. The combination of clinical and business education promised to equip us to address the deep inefficiencies and inequities of the American healthcare system—not just from the exam room, but also from the boardroom.
Fast forward two decades, and MD/MBA programs have grown substantially in popularity. Today, many top-tier medical schools a formalized path to earning both degrees. At my alma mater, Harvard Medical School, more than a dozen students graduate each year with the dual credential.
On the surface, this seems like progress. And to be clear, I am a passionate believer in business education for clinicians. Our healthcare system is in urgent need of transformation, and we will not achieve it without leaders who understand both patient care and the principles of organizational performance, economics, and innovation.
But as someone who has walked this path—and who now leads a large healthcare organization—I believe we need to be more deliberate about when clinicians acquire their business training. The current model of embedding business school into the middle of medical school, while increasingly common, is flawed.
The Right Training at the Right Time
There are two major reasons why the MD/MBA timing deserves reconsideration:
- Lack of Professional Experience: Business school is a fundamentally different learning environment from medical school. The richest discussions in MBA classrooms draw from students’ real-world work experience. They thrive on practical application, lived examples, and thoughtful reflection. Most medical students, through no fault of their own, arrive with limited exposure to the working world beyond academic settings. This leaves them less able to fully benefit from, or contribute to, the MBA classroom.
- Limited Opportunity for Immediate Application: Business education is most impactful when it is applied immediately. Yet the typical MD/MBA graduate re-enters a rigid, hierarchical residency training program after business school. There’s little space to test new skills in operations, strategy, or finance when your day-to-day is dominated by 80-hour clinical workweeks and steep learning curves in patient care. The delay between business school and practical application can dilute the relevance of what’s been learned.
Moreover, there is a hidden cost: MD/MBA students pause their clinical training midstream to pursue their MBA. This interruption in clinical development can hinder their confidence and competence upon return—something no one tells you when you’re eagerly filling out dual-degree applications.
An Alternative: Residency-MBA Programs
What, then, is the better model?
During my residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, I collaborated with my program director, Dr. Joel Katz, to co-design a novel training pathway: the residency-MBA. This program, developed in partnership with Harvard Business School, integrated MBA coursework into the final two years of clinical training.
Residents didn’t need to choose between business education and medical progression—they did both, simultaneously. Yes, it extended training by a year, but critically, residents maintained clinical continuity while also building their management and leadership toolkit. They emerged from training ready to take on real-world leadership roles immediately—with fresh, relevant clinical knowledge and newly acquired business acumen.
The success of that program should serve as a blueprint for medical schools and teaching hospitals across the country. It allows business education to do what it does best: serve as a catalyst for strategic thinking, innovation, and organizational leadership at the moment it is most needed.
Who Should Still Consider the MD/MBA?
There are exceptions. A small number of students with meaningful pre-med business experience—entrepreneurs, consultants, or analysts—may benefit from the MD/MBA sequence. For them, business school isn’t a leap into the unknown, but a formalization of skills they’ve already begun to develop. Financial considerations, such as scholarship availability or institutional aid, may also influence decision-making.
But for the majority of aspiring physician-leaders, the integrated residency-MBA model is the superior path. It allows for deeper learning, better timing, and more immediate relevance—without compromising the continuity of clinical education.
As we think about how to train the next generation of leaders in medicine, it’s time to move beyond what’s available, and ask what’s optimal. Medical educators, program directors, and students themselves should rethink not just what we learn, but when we learn it.
Only then can we develop the kind of leaders healthcare so desperately needs.