In a new Voices of UMass Chan podcast, three UMass Chan Medical School students discuss their participation in the dual-degree MBA program. Developed with the Manning School of Business at UMass Lowell, the program is available to all students accepted into the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing. Most of the interest in the program has been among medical students.
“The great thing about this degree is the versatility and growth opportunity that it offers through the foundation that it provides in business acumen across the field,” said Emilee Herringshaw, a third-year medical student enrolled in the dual-degree MBA program. “We take things such as corporate finance, operations and global enterprise. There’s a wide variety of skills that you build, and that’s what lends itself to how your career path will eventually evolve.”
The program allows students who are accepted to UMass Chan an opportunity to complete their MBA and still graduate on time. It offers in-person coursework during summers, with subsequent coursework online.
“I had started in the summer before matriculation, and that’s when I really was able to get those foundational courses done so that was a huge chunk of the program,” said Lauren Scarpetti, a second-year medical student enrolled in the dual-degree MBA program.
Fourth-year medical student Christopher DiTullio entered the Chan School of Medicine as a traditional medical student. He enrolled in the dual-degree MBA program after learning about the business side of the health care system and how the MBA path could benefit him as a future emergency room physician.
“Really having that real world understanding of the impact of the budget for that place that you’re working; I think it’s just really important,” DiTullio said. “My hope is to use the degree personally as a potential administrator in the future.”
In the podcast, Anne C. Larkin, MD, associate professor of surgery and vice provost and senior associate dean for educational affairs, provides a detailed overview of the program. Listen to the full podcast at: umassmed.edu/news/voices.
The Voices of UMass Chan podcast, formerly Voices of UMassMed, was renamed as a reflection of the Medical School’s name change in Sept. 2021 to UMass Chan Medical School following a $175 million philanthropic gift from The Morningside Foundation.
Related links on UMassMed News:
LISTEN: What does it take to persuade people to get vaccinated against COVID-19?
UMass Medical School rises to ‘health sciences moment’ in COVID-19 pandemic
