The McDonough School of Business (MSB) announced the Business of Health Initiative, an interdisciplinary program that promotes the intersection of business and health professions, Sept. 16.
The initiative offers courses for both undergraduate and graduate students, facilitates research informing health care policy and hosts the Health Economics Seminar Series, a partnership with Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University to hold conversations with members of academia and researchers. It will also offer courses in healthcare data analytics, the business of the U.S. healthcare system, accounting for non-profit hospital systems and mental health in organizations, drawing on faculty members and adjuncts from across the university and surrounding community.
MSB Dean Paul Almeida said the initiative will address the rapidly-changing health economy and seek to reduce inequities both domestically and globally.
“Health and well-being are integral to the prosperity of our communities, yet many people still do not have access to the health services they need,” Almeida wrote to The Hoya. “Among a growing list of reforms, technological advancements and new business ventures in medicine, there is a need for bright and compassionate business professionals to lead change in the health care industry.”
Sandeep Dahiya, the new initiative’s director, said the program builds upon Georgetown University’s Jesuit values and strengths in the health sciences.
“In Georgetown, with this Jesuit tradition of caring for the whole person, health care is a natural area in which our students should play a role, and they do,” Dahiya told The Hoya. “We have a school of medicine, we have a school of nursing, we have a school of health, and we feel that the private sector plays a big role, so as a business school, it behooves us that we should prepare our students who can be leaders in health care companies, health care organizations, lead the innovation, make a difference.”
Dahiya said the initiative intends to examine economic issues around health care with a focus on policy.
“Healthcare policy tends to be very complicated,” Dahiya said. “We have a number of problems. The United States spends nearly 20% of GDP on health care. Now, is that sustainable? And why is it that we spend so much? Can we do better? What policy goals, what tweaks might help is something that researchers are intensely debating and trying to figure out.”
Yunan Ji, an assistant professor leading the Health Economics Seminar Series in conjunction with the Business of Health Initiative, said the program integrates economic and health scholarship for real-world applications.
“It’s essentially both bringing new ideas in and a platform for exchanging academic ideas,” Ji told The Hoya. “Hopefully, throughout this process, we’ll be able to generate new research and help inform policy.”
Ji said she was impressed by the crowd gathered for the inaugural event, a Sept. 16 seminar which featured Tim Layton, University of Virginia professor of health care policy and economics.
“We had people working in government agencies such as the treasury, as well as think tanks such as Brookings, as well as from industry all come to the event,” Ji said. “It was a great success.”
Though the seminar series is primarily intended for academic, public sector and industry partners, Ji said she would encourage students to attend and get involved.
“I think this will be a great platform to see what the frontier of research looks like and to meet some of the best researchers in the country,” Ji said.
Dahiya said the initiative programming is open to students across all the Georgetown schools, not just those in the MSB, stressing that success is attainable for anyone willing to put in the effort.
“It’s one of the sectors where you can do well by doing good — and you do not have to be a physician,” Dahiya said. “There is a very lively for-profit and non-profit sector where our grads can make a difference if they choose to do so.”