UCLA: Program Merges Medical, Business Studies
Today's Los Angeles Times profiles a fledgling joint MD/MBA program created by a partnership between University of California-Los Angeles's medical school and its Anderson graduate business school. The Times reports that this program "reflect[s] the recognition that medicine is not practiced in a vacuum, but is inexorably tied to other forces, especially financial ones." The program requires students to complete three years of medical school, while the fourth year is spent in MBA courses and the fifth is "half-and-half." John Mamer, interim dean of Anderson, said, "It's pretty clear that management issues surrounding health care have become pretty significant issues. ... This is sort of an important new arena for us in the business school." Adrian Correa, a recent graduate of the program, said, "There's a valid concern that few physicians are trained or equipped to make financial decisions that affect the whole health care system, because that's just not what we're taught in medical schools" (Hillbery, 2/7).
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