Certificate in the Business of Healthcare

Preparing Full-Time MBA students to be leaders in the business of healthcare.

The Certificate in the Business of Healthcare allows students to receive foundational exposure to the entire healthcare ecosystem while tailoring their courses to their desired future career goal within the sector.

In order to qualify for the certificate, students must take at least 4 healthcare specific credits according to the distribution described below. At least 3 of these credits must be in excess of the minimum degree requirements for a student’s MBA. This requirement would have the following implications across programs:
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  • A Two-Year Full-Time MBA or a MMM student would be required to complete 4 healthcare specific credits as described below at a minimum of 23.5 total Kellogg credits over their 6 (2Y) or 7 (MMM) full-time quarters of study.

    • Note: Current Two-Year Full-Time MBA and MMM students - who matriculated in Summer 2023 or Fall 2023 and who are graduating in 2025 (June) - will also be able to officially declare and graduate with a completed Healthcare certificate during AY 24-25. 

  • A One-Year Full-Time MBA student would be required to complete a total of 18.5 Kellogg credits. For this to be possible, One-Year Full-Time MBA students must average a course-load of more than 4.5 credits per quarter.

  • A JD-MBA and MD-MBA student would be required to complete a total of 19 Kellogg credits.

  • This certificate is not available to MBAi students.

Required curriculum

All students must take: 

Healthcare Strategy (either in the 10-week or “Deep Dive” format)


Students must take at least three credits from the following list:

IN-DEPTH COURSES

 Healthcare Economics

 Biomedical Marketing

 Pharmaceutical Strategy

 Value Creation and Capture in Biopharmaceuticals

 Digital Health

 Digital Health for the Entrepreneur

 Growing & Sustaining Success in Biopharmaceutical Firms

 Intellectual Capital Management
Using Analytics to Create and Capture Value in Healthcare

Managing Health Care Services in a Value Based Setting

Strategy and Execution for a Successful Healthcare Delivery System

Value Creation & Capture in an Evolving Healthcare Market

 Create & Capture Value in the Chinese Healthcare Market

Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) (Innovations & Developments in Healthcare Financial Services with Andrew Sykes, Winter 2025)

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING COURSES*

 Medical Technology Financing and Commercialization

Medical Technologies in Global Public Health 

 Healthcare Strategy Consulting Lab

 NUVention Medical Innovation

 Entrepreneurship Innovation Lab

 Health Systems Management: A Practicum Course with Northwestern Medicine

 Forging and Funding Health Care Startups

 Create & Capture Value in the Chinese Healthcare Market

  

*With the approval of the Director of HCAK, students may complete one credit through an independent study.