Washington University in St. Louis announces the launch of its dual masters degree program in business administration and public health (MBA/MPH) to meet the growing demand for business-savvy, public policy-minded healthcare managers. The university’s Olin Business School and George Warren Brown School of Social Work will administer the program that offers students a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to understanding and managing the complex challenges in the healthcare industry.
“The time is right for this degree.,” says Timothy McBride, associate dean for public health at the Brown School. “Implementing national health reform will be a key priority for many years.”
“Now more than ever, all sectors of the health care industry need to understand how these reforms affect the delivery and financing of medical care,” says McBride. “A joint degree in public health and business offers students a rich understanding of business, economics and policy and gives them the tools needed to help implement health reform now and into the future.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. healthcare industry will generate more than three million jobs this decade. In addition to doctors and nurses, well-trained managers whose expertise bridges the worlds of business and healthcare are vital in the new era of healthcare reform.
Graduates with the dual MBA/MPH degree will have the interdisciplinary functional and critical-thinking skill set needed for distinctive impact and long-run leadership in hospitals and pharmaceutical firms, healthcare consulting, policy think tanks, public administration and other management roles across the healthcare industry spectrum.
Washington University’s MBA/MPH program will combine the foundational courses of graduate level business and public health degrees with a total of 87 course hours and require two-and-one-half to three years to complete.
Applicants must be accepted into the existing MBA and MPH programs and must apply for the dual degree before the end of their first year of study in either graduate program.
“Washington University has a longstanding tradition of offering timely, uniquely collaborative dual-degree programs at the graduate level,” says Joe Fox, associate dean and director of MBA programs. “The MBA/MPH degree is a direct response to the needs of the healthcare industry which accounts for a huge fraction of our economy and is the subject of continuous policy and implementation debate. It is a critical subject matter for future business leaders of in the U.S. and around the world.”
Washington University’s highly ranked schools of medicine, social work and business* will provide a unique set of resources to students in the new MBA/MPH program, which is destined to set its graduates apart with unparalleled advantages to succeed in the health care sector.
*U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings: Brown School, #1; Washington University School of Medicine, #4; Olin Business School, #19. For more information, visit:
Brown School
Olin Business School
Washington University in St. Louis