Gaining exposure to new parts of the healthcare field
In this special series, we’re talking with students and alumni who participated in Kellogg’s Healthcare Deep Dive, an MBA course that gives students an up-close-and-personal look at key players, trends and movements in this fast-changing industry. Held across three intense weekends in San Francisco, Miami and Evanston, this one-of-a-kind course enrolls students from across the across the Full-Time, Evening & Weekend and Executive MBA programs to learn and network together.
Before attending Kellogg, Mara Walli ’24, Two-Year MBA Program, worked in corporate finance for a pre-commercial cell therapy company. She pursued her MBA because she was interested in getting exposure to a broader view of the healthcare industry beyond just the biotech space, and she wanted to know more about different functions she could work in outside of finance.
Drawn to Kellogg’s healthcare programming, Walli applied to the Full-Time Program and became a Hawryluk Biopharmaceutical Scholar. “I was pretty set on healthcare consulting,” she said, “and the MBA is what opens that door. Getting exposure to healthcare while getting the degree that aligned with my career goals made the most sense.”
In her first year, she took Deep Dive programs focusing on the topics of value creation and capture in biopharma and value-based care. She also enjoyed that some of the class sessions took place in San Francisco, where she used to live. “It was a cool class because it focused on the thought process and strategy behind investing in early-stage biotech and biopharma companies, particularly from the perspective of private equity,” she said. Instructor Adam Koppel, a partner at Bain Capital Life Sciences, had “a wealth of industry experience that was super interesting to hear about,” including investment decisions he either made or passed on. “It was right up my alley with my background in biotech.”
Walli also said she was quickly brought up to speed in value-based healthcare, which she hadn’t had exposure to in her prior work. “A lot of it was taking a look at Oak Street Health as a case study, and it happened right around when they got acquired by CVS, which certainly proved their success,” she said. “It was cool to get exposure to them so closely at such a pivotal time in their company history.”
The Deep Dive is designed to connect fellow students from across MBA programs and industries with one another, which she said will have a positive influence on her career. “There were all sorts of events throughout the different weekends where we got to mingle and get to know people from those other programs who we otherwise probably wouldn’t cross paths with organically,” she said.
Walli is looking forward to taking on a role in consulting after graduation, and she knows she wants her career journey to ultimately involve working in healthcare and imagining how to improve both the industry and patient outcomes. “I want to get exposure to different parts of the healthcare system. [Outside of biopharma] I would not be surprised if I ended up on a case with either a payer or provider or both,” she said. Having a better understanding of the incentives that each of those different stakeholders face “improves the ability to make strategic recommendations in the space,” she says.
She advises prospective MBA students to spend time getting to know the broader school community as well during their time in business school. “There are a lot of Kellogg alums who are super excited to talk to current students and share about their experiences. Kellogg people tend to be very friendly and happy to chat.” —By Claire Zulkey
More in this series
Healthcare at Kellogg: Four MBA students share their journey through the Deep Dive immersion
Understanding the big picture in healthcare