Kellogg Chronicles: Leading the Business of Healthcare Conference

This content was originally published in Poets&Quants.  

On a chilly Saturday in January, hundreds of Kellogg students, alumni and Chicago-area healthcare professionals streamed into the Global Hub. They came for the school’s marquee healthcare event of the year: the Kellogg Business of Healthcare Conference (KBHC). 

Despite the cold weather, this was the hottest ticket in town. The conference sold out of all 450 tickets a month early and drew a long waitlist. As student organizers, we were delighted and felt rewarded by the interest and turnout. A star-studded speaker lineup and Kellogg’s growing reputation for hosting a premiere annual healthcare conference heightened the intrigue this year. 

The increasing interest in KBHC reflects the growing healthcare community among Kellogg students. This year, for example, the Healthcare Club doubled in size, thanks to the strong leadership of co-presidents Jon Haugen (2Y ’24) and Pam Divack (2Y ’24). Across KBHC and the Healthcare Club, 96 students hold club leadership positions, making our healthcare student community one of the largest of any business school. Across all Kellogg programs, there are around 400 students who partake in Kellogg’s healthcare offerings. 

Our growing membership and engagement have continued to energize us, particularly during “Healthcare Week” preceding the conference. It featured four speaker events, during which the Chief Marketing Officer of Eli Lilly’s Neurology unit, Roberto Servi, gave nuanced advice to students on how to market healthcare products to a global audience. Craig Garthwaite (Director of Healthcare at Kellogg) hosted an “Ask Me Anything” session that revealed his perspectives on drug pricing and his power ranking of Taylor Swift’s songs to students. During small-group, topic-themed dinners, we ate ramen while debating the merits of different health care systems in Latin America. Healthcare Week represented the culmination of year-long initiatives to strengthen the Kellogg Healthcare Community and showcased the energy leading up to KBHC. 

KBHC’s content this year was rich and varied

On the Friday of Healthcare Week, KBHC hosted the Startup and Growth Fair, a career fair of 26 early-stage healthcare companies interested in recruiting Kellogg talent. Growing by over 60% from the prior year, the fair allowed companies to engage with hundreds of Kellogg students in attendance. The growth and engagement reflect increasing interest in healthcare entrepreneurship on campus.  During the main event on Saturday, KBHC hosted 32 executives from companies ranging from Kite Pharma to UnitedHealthcare to speak on innovative pathways to progress in the industry. 

Read the original article in its entirety on Poets&Quants to hear from students in the Two-Year MBA Program Jake Howell ’24, Mara Walli ’24 and Megan Sullivan ’24 on their experience leading the Business of Healthcare Conference.  
 
Prior to Kellogg, KBHC co-chair Jake Howell advised healthcare providers and public health departments on health equity analytics as a Strategy Consultant in Deloitte Consulting’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice. After interning at Oak Street Health this summer, he will be returning to Deloitte to focus on population health and healthcare innovation. 

Prior to business school, KBHC co-chair Mara Walli worked in corporate finance in the biotechnology industry, first at Amgen in Thousand Oaks, California and then at Atara Biotherapeutics in South San Francisco. She is going to work at Boston Consulting Group in Chicago after graduation. 

Megan Sullivan, KBHC speakers committee lead, was previously a Strategy Consultant in Deloitte Consulting’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice in Chicago, where she will also be returning upon graduation from Kellogg to continue her focus in Pharma/Biotech Strategy. She received her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.