Federica Sidoti MD ’24 MBA

Clinical roots creating critical impact

Dr. Federica Sidoti ’24 MBA, decided to pursue an MBA while in labor with her second child.

It was summer 2020 and there were riots and protests breaking out across Chicago. Federica and her husband made it to the hospital with little time to spare and found the staff in crisis mode.

“It's a happy story, but it was a tough experience from a mother's perspective,” she recalls. “The hospital was in crisis, and I felt the need to do something about it and make an impact.”

Federica knew following this experience that she wanted to become someone who could step in and take charge during tumultuous times. She was already a trained physician, but she lacked the knowledge she felt she needed to truly lead people through a crisis.

Her journey to Kellogg started 12 years ago when she moved from Italy to the U.S. At the time, she was working as a clinical manager at Northwestern Medicine in oncology clinical trials and operations. Her work was important, but she dealt mainly with research.

“I knew everything about the human body, but I didn't know how to talk to people as a manager,” she says. “I felt like an MBA was my next step.”

Despite knowing Kellogg was a good fit, she was nervous. She had two small children and a full-time job. She had completed all her prior education in Italian, her native language. She had no experience in finance or statistics or “traditional” business school subjects.

But she didn't have to worry.

The support Federica received from the Kellogg community was immense and immediate. “We are all working professionals in this program,” she says. “Everyone has their own priorities and sometimes we covered for each other, even in group work. It was a really good collaboration across the classroom and within the group.”

An important aspect of Federica’s Kellogg experience was the relationships she built with her classmates. She also participated in the Kellogg Leadership Journey, a program offered exclusively to Evening & Weekend MBA students that guides them in discovering who they are as individual leaders.  

“[KLJ] enriched my experience at Kellogg a lot because it gave me a perspective on my own decisions that I may not have considered before,” Federica recalls. “It has been a truly life changing experience.”

Following graduation in March 2024, Federica accepted a role as a clinical research program manager at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, a job she says she would not have if not for Kellogg.

“I probably wouldn’t have taken the promotion if I’d just been at the start of the MBA program. I wouldn’t have been bold enough, and I definitely would not have had the skills.”

In her new role, Federica and the team she built from the ground up are conducting research on stem cell therapies and treatments for autoimmune diseases, which have typically only been used to treat cancer. She is energized by the groundbreaking work she and her team are doing and knows her Kellogg MBA will continue to bolster her success.

“I see myself utilizing my MBA to continue to solve problems and be in a decision-making role,” she says. “I still think I want to stick with a hospital environment. There is a lot to solve, and it feels like that's where I will flourish most.”