Healthcare

To improve the practice and delivery of healthcare, leaders need to exercise a solid understanding of strategy, operations, management, and other foundational business principles, as well as an acute recognition of the human needs of patients. SOM's myriad efforts in the healthcare space leverage insights from management scholarship, close ties with Yale's biomedical schools and programs, and a network of committed and entrepreneurial leaders.

Curriculum

Yale SOM’s core curriculum provides a grounding in management and leadership concepts, while developing in students the rigor necessary to address the major trends and challenges facing healthcare. In addition, healthcare-focused electives offer students the chance to apply theory to solving practical, real-world problems. Students in the MBA for Executives program may elect to focus their study in healthcare; among other advanced courses on healthcare management, they take part in the Colloquia on Healthcare, a series of candid discussions with leaders in the industry.

Sample courses

Core courses: Modeling Managerial Decisions, State and Society, Innovator, The Executive
Elective courses: Healthcare Strategy, Simulating Models, Healthcare Policy and Finance, Advanced Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Operations, Managing & Innovating in Healthcare Organizations, Global Health, Sustainable Innovation in Healthcare, Managing Social Enterprises

View course listings

Community stories

Video: Planning the Yale Healthcare Conference

We followed student organizers as they prepared for one of Yale SOM’s flagship student-led conferences.

Dr. Cece Calhoun ’21 Named Assistant Director of Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership

Calhoun, the medical director of the Adult Sickle Cell Program at Yale’s Smilow Cancer Hospital, was part of the fellowship’s inaugural cohort.

A person in business attire leaning on a desk in an office space and smiling

Internship Spotlight: Trisha Chaudhary ’25, Manatt Health

A Whole-Person Approach to Mental Health

Christina Mainelli ’11, CEO of Quartet Health, explains how the company solves bottlenecks around access, quality, and fragmentation to deliver whole person care.

Preview image for the video "Pankaj Gupta, Focus: Healthcare, MBA for Executives".

When I applied to the executive MBA program, the COVID-19 pandemic was really impacting the world. I thought an MBA with a healthcare focus was needed more than ever and would best prepare me for a new career post-military.

John Ruizo ’24

Startup Stories: Helping Employees Navigate Their Healthcare Benefits

A conversation with Guy Benjamin ’14, whose startup Healthee provides a comprehensive digital platform that helps employees access and understand their health and wellness benefits.

Several students sitting at tables in a study area

Pat Tillman Foundation Awards Scholarships to Two Students

Nicole Echols ’25 and Galen Jones ’26 join a select group of higher education students pursuing careers that build on their military experiences.

Population Health and Health Equity

Preview image for the video "MBA for Executives: Population Health & Health Equity Course".

This MBA for Executives course examines the many factors that influence health outcomes—including nutrition, access to care, education, race, and income—and that cannot be easily measured during a patient visit.

Healthcare programs

Yale MBA for Executives: Healthcare Focus

The Yale MBA for Executives features the same powerful combination of integrated curriculum, leadership development, raw cases, team projects, and deep expertise in global business as the full-time MBA program. What sets it apart, beside the flexible weekend format, is that we draw on expertise from across Yale and beyond to provide you with the opportunity to deepen your knowledge in one of three focus areas: asset management, healthcare, or sustainability.

The Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership

Joint Degree with School of Public Health: MBA/MPH

The joint-degree program in management and public health is intended for students who plan careers in both sectors and are interested in the ways in which management skills can be applied in healthcare organizations. Yale offers a two-year intensive MBA/MPH and a three-year program.

Joint Degree with the School of Medicine: MBA/MD

The joint MBA/MD degree program develops physician managers capable of pursuing careers that balance clinical care with managing change in a tumultuous healthcare environment. Most joint-degree students spend the first three years at the Yale School of Medicine; the fourth year at Yale SOM, during which they take the integrated MBA curriculum; and the fifth year taking electives at both schools.

I came to Yale SOM to learn to think more broadly and critically about key issues facing the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, and also about our impact and importance to society.

Jing Tu ’22

Opportunities for students

Conferences & Events

A joint effort of Yale SOM and the Health Professional Schools at Yale University, the Healthcare Conference, founded in 2004, convenes healthcare professionals, scholars, leaders, and students for a dynamic conversation on current issues in the sector. The Healthcare Case Competition challenges interdisciplinary teams of students to solve some of the most difficult problems facing healthcare and biotechnology today.

Colloquium in Healthcare Leadership

The Colloquium in Healthcare Leadership brings prominent leaders from public, private, and nonprofit healthcare organizations to campus for candid discussions. You will deepen your understanding of the major trends in healthcare as well as the challenges of being a leader in this space.