Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center F. Marie Hall SimLife Center

I'm here in Lubbock attending the 9th Annual MD/MBA Conference. This afternoon, Dr. Sharon Decker spoke about technology innovations in medical education and the F. Marie Hall SimLife Center. This state-of-the-art patient simulation center opened last year. The center will focus on an interdisciplinary approach to teaching health care students with an emphasis on patient safety. The center focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to teach health care students with an emphasis on patient safety.

Here is a short video demonstrating the patient simulation center:

I'll be speaking at 9th Annual National MD/MBA Conference in Lubbock TX

I hope to see you in Lubbock, Texas for the 9th Annual National MD/MBA Conference. This year, the conference is focusing on health information technology and some great speakers will be talking about opportunities in health IT for physicians who have an interest in business.

The conference is sponsored by Texas Tech University and you can register here.

I'll be speaking on Sunday morning, April 10 at 9:45 AM about non-clinical (and non-traditional) career opportunities. At the meeting, I'll also share some interesting information I collected on the LinkedIn group for the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) when I asked physician executives about their MD/MBA experience. Is it better to get an MD/MBA at the same time or to get the MBA after you've earned your MD + residency training? Attend my presentation to hear what physician executives have to share.

I don't have an MD/MBA (yet), but I'm working on it. I didn't take advantage of the dual degree program that was offered in my medical school. I'm one of those physicians getting an MBA later in life. I'm currently enrolled in an executive MBA program and you can follow my Business School Blog to read about my experiences in business school.

Promote Your Organization at the 9th Annual MD/MBA Conference!

Author: Brittany Chan

The 9th Annual MD/MBA Conference is just around the corner! Join us April 8-10, 2011, in Lubbock, Texas for a spectacular conference hosted by Texas Tech University! This will be a great opportunity to network with other leaders in your field and find out about career opportunities. If you haven’t registered yet, you may do so here.

Whether you can make the conference or not, why not promote your business among an audience of practicing physicians, physician executives, company leaders, students, and more? Texas Tech is looking for conference sponsors. Make a tax-deductible donation for as little as $350 and receive several benefits, including:

- Ads in the program
- Your company name in the online listings
- A booth at the residency and career fair
- Seats at the President’s Dinner and Networking Breakfast
- And more!

This is a terrific marketing opportunity for your company! Click here for more information about the different sponsorship packages available, and email me if you’re interested in a sponsorship or have any questions. The deadline is March 28.

I hope you will join me in helping to make this conference a success. See you in Lubbock!

Annual MD/MBA Conference

I hope to see some of you in Lubbock for the 9th Annual MD/MBA Conference. This year, I have the opportunity of speaking on Sunday morning about non-clinical career opportunities for physicians interested in business.

The Annual MD/MBA Conference will take place April 8-10, 2011 in Lubbock, TX. For more information and to register for the conference, click here. 

Here's some history about the Association of MD/MBA Programs:

In 2003, MD/MBA program directors of the then thirty-three identified dual degree programs in the U.S. began meeting annually in order to build ties, share experiences hone the mission of the programs, and help new programs to prosper from lessons learned. The meetings were held at rotating universities to highlight their MD/MBA program. Program directors shared details of their programs and invited dual degree speakers to discuss their chosen career paths. MD/MBA students from the programs attended with their directors. Such enthusiasm was evident; naturally these annual meetings emerged into weekend long conferences with increasing attendance and have been supported by the hosting universities.

Discussing health care reform with MD/MBA students

This weekend, I'm in Boston attending the Association of MD/MBA Programs 8th Annual Conference (click here for highlights from the meeting). Over lunch, I had a discussion with several MD/MBA students (most of them were from Boston University) and we were talking about the health care system. Given that many of these students had not gone through clinical rotations yet, they may have lacked a first-hand perspective on the current health care crisis related to the lack of health insurance and the lack of primary care access. Patients are frequenting the ER and using the ER as a source for primary care. Uninsured patients are being admitted to the hospital, only to be discharged with a list of medications they can't afford. This is why they end up "bouncing back" to your service after a few days.

So, will reform improve things? Will the availability of a universal health care plan improve access to care? It might if physicians embrace the public option, but what will happen if physicians retire or refuse to accept the public option? Given that these medical students represent the future of medicine in this country, my hope is that they will find innovative solutions as our health care system prepares to go through some significant changes over the next several years.

Make sure to catch all the highlights from the Association of MD/MBA Programs 8th Annual Conference by clicking here.

Blogging about the MD/MBA Conference on NonClinicalJobs.com

Make sure to visit NonClinicalJobs.com since I'm covering highlights from the Association of MD/MBA Programs 8th Annual Conference. I'm in Boston all weekend attending this meeting and so I'll be devoting all my blogging efforts to it as I meet MD/MBA students and attend sessions.

I'm back at MIT today!

Today, my wife and I are back at MIT. It's hard to believe that we met here on campus. Now, we're here with out kids and sometimes we wonder if our kids will end up here as well. Maybe they will meet their future spouses on campus as well.

Why am I back in Boston? I'm here to attend the 8th Annual Conference for the Association of MD/MBA Programs and to write about some of the highlights from the meeting. Make sure to check NonClinicalJobs.com for coverage from the 8th Annual Conference for the Association of MD/MBA Programs. 

Given that the meeting starts tonight, I have the morning and afternoon to walk around MIT and enjoy Boston!

We're going to Boston next month

Since my wife and I met at MIT, we love to visit Boston. This year, we're going up there for this: 8th Annual MD/MBA Conference

I'll be covering that meeting as a blogger, so if you're interested in hearing about that meeting, then make sure to follow my blog:  http://www.NonClinicalJobs.com

Physician social networking online

Most of my physician colleagues agree that most physicians generally don't engage in online social networking. The only exceptions would be those who use Sermo, and a small handful of early adopters. So who are those early adopters? Who are those who see value in online social networking?

• Are they the physicians who have a strong interest in medical informatics (or health information technology)? Sometimes.
• Are they the physicians who are actively looking for new job opportunities? Rarely.
• Are they the physicians who tend to be more adventurous and active (such as emergency room physicians)? Sometimes.
• Are they the physicians who have way too much free time (such as dermatology and radiology physicians)? Sometimes.
• Are they those MD/MBA grads who are always trying to find new ventures. Sometimes.
  

So, who are those early adopters? Most of the time, they are the medical students who already use social networking tools like blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. They are the ones who graduate and become those physicians who embrace the power of social networking.

Reading List 2009: What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive

I'm going to start keeping a reading list of the books I hope to read in 2009. I had a really interesting phone conversation with a physician on the west coast this morning. As we started talking, our conversation drifted to the book titled, "What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive." I haven't read it, but I'd really like to. Therefore, I'm adding it to my 2009 reading list and I'll probably get it from Amazon. Thanks to Sermo, I have some Amazon gift certificate credit that I need to use.

The author is Mark H. McCormack and ironically, he didn't actually attend HBS (Harvard Business School). Instead, he was a Yale-trained attorney. But was he qualified to write such a book? Absolutely! He is considered the Pioneer of Sports Marketing and he died in 2003. He was an entrepreneur with a lot of street smarts and we can all probably learn a lot from him.

7th Annual MD/MBA Conference

7th Annual MD/MBA Conference in Dayton OH
When: April 17-19, 2009
Where: Wright State University School of Medicine and College of Business
Want to learn more about this event? Click here.

You may think that most people who pursue a combined MD/MBA plan to pursue non-clinical careers, but that may not be true. An MBA can be very beneficial to help you run a more efficient practice or hospital. If you stop to think about it, medical management is really a form of business administration, so if you're properly equipped, you'll be better at it.

Consulting for McKinsey or the Boston Consulting Group

It seems like many students who pursue a joint MD/MBA want to get a consulting job at McKinsey & Company. Who wouldn't? I've known several people who have worked at McKinsey and I'm always fascinated by the unique stories associated with the McKinsey culture. I've also met medical school graduates who have pursued opportunities at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG, not to be confused with the BCG vaccine). So what about you? Do you have strong interests in the business/consulting industry? If you're pre-med, are you planning on pursuing an MD/MBA program? As I look back on my education, I often wonder whether I would have pursued a combined MD/MBA. Since I lacked "real world" working experience before applying to medical school, I think I would have been lost in business school. Had a been a non-traditional student who had worked for several years prior to applying to medical school, then I would have seriously considered a combined MD/MBA program.