Steven Culler

The goal of obtaining a health care MBA should not revolve around specific skills but rather detailed knowledge of American health care, according to Steven D. Culler, associate professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and Goizueta Business School. “I would argue that in terms of business skills, there’s very little added” from getting a health care–focused MBA, he says. “It’s more about really having the ability to talk about, and understand, how the health care system actually works at different providers and then how certain policies impact the business model for those sectors.”

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Healthcare is constantly evolving, and staying current can be a challenge. Emory Executive Education is harnessing faculty expertise and industry contacts to offer new programming that enables executives to be responsive to shifts in the field. Recently, JB Kurish, professor in the practice of finance and senior associate dean for executive education, and Susan-Anne MacKenna, director of executive education programs, sat down to talk more about the intersection of healthcare and business. Q: Emory Executive Education is introducing a series of new courses with an emphasis on healthcare. What was the impetus behind this move? Kurish: Clearly, healthcare is an incredibly important, powerful sector that impacts everyone in some way. We knew the topic was ripe for programming and began to talk to colleagues and alumni to delve into the questions: What is happening in a big sense with regulatory and legislative issues, and how are people involved with healthcare impacted by its new and changing environment? MacKenna: As we spoke with people about the changing environment, we realized they were seeking answers to these same questions. In fact, there is a pent-up demand, especially in Atlanta, for more education by those inside healthcare organizations and others who partner with them. Q: Is the new healthcare certificate a result of this demand? MacKenna: Within the healthcare space, there are not many business schools using executive education as a primary delivery model. Some provide a course here or there, but none have created a concentrated, focused certificate series that can provide genuine value. This was a gap we could uniquely and distinctively fill. Kurish: We also know our audience needs flexibility. The courses will be stand alone, with a two-day delivery time, so participants can take one or more without any prerequisites. We will launch our Goizueta Healthcare Certificate courses in early 2017. Instruction is delivered primarily by Steve Culler, associate professor of health policy and management at Rollins School of Public Health with a dual appointment as adjunct associate professor of finance at Goizueta, and Greg Esper 09EMBA, a practicing physician, director of a neurology practice, director of new care models for Emory Healthcare, and a professor at Emory’s School of Medicine with an adjunct appointment at Goizueta.