Executive MBA/MS Student Spotlights

Dr. Javaid wants to consistently improve coordination between healthcare organizations to ensure they are equally well-informed and equipped to handle crises. With the EMBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership, he expects to have the knowledge and skill set to be an agent of change, positively impacting public policy and providing the safest, highest quality of care to patients. 

The program at Cornell was in a league of its own for me. It was the only program that put equal weight on both the healthcare side and the business side. I was surrounded by peers from different sectors of the industry who shared the same mission and values.

I was so inspired by the opportunity to have two degrees where you develop a strong business foundation but also get a degree specific to healthcare leadership. In having both, you’re able to develop the skills you need to lead a multidisciplinary healthcare team.

The opportunity to interact with an expert faculty and a diverse cohort of highly accomplished professionals encompassing clinicians, hospital administrators, research scientists, pharmaceutical executives and biotech entrepreneurs intensely focused on a common learning goal for two years established strong bonds within an invaluable Cornell network.

At every turn, the program exposed us to projects/problems that we were challenged to tackle as a team. By going through those experiences, we gained insights into the perspectives, strengths, communication preferences/styles, and challenges of each team member. 

The EMBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program provided us with the business competencies and interpersonal and soft skills to navigate through the challenges of the global pandemic, COVID-19. The program taught us to be agile in a rapidly changing environment where no one knew how to deal with a virus that was having a devastating effect on the patients community.

The Executive MBA curriculum offered opportunities to engage in rigorous business courses while the MS in Healthcare Policy and Research provided a framework to explore challenges that are unique to the healthcare industry. I sought a program that would foster an Ivy League learning environment of collaboration and found Cornell to embrace diversity of thought, culture and industry perspectives.

A successful leader needs to be a visionary, a great communicator, a bridge-builder who can bring disparate people with different incentives together to solve systemic problems innovatively. The program helped me hone these skills by starting with a self/colleague assessment process to understand strengths and areas of improvement. Then providing the frameworks to use to build the strengths and useful feedback to address areas of growth. 

I felt--and continue to feel--like the Cornell MBA/MS program was unique in that it brought together leaders from both the health system and medical college as well as the business school. The interdisciplinary nature of the program lends itself to shaping leaders who will consider all perspectives.