Healthcare Initiative

Launched in 2005, our Healthcare Initiative serves as a gateway for healthcare research, educational programs, and collaboration across all sectors of the healthcare industry.

Priority is placed on applying the best principles of management, entrepreneurship, and innovation to help reshape this complex industry. We engage with faculty, students, alumni, Executive Education participants, and many other parts of the University. Through this powerful alliance of key stakeholders, HBS aims to educate leaders who will make an immediate and lasting impact by developing business models that offer the hope of improved outcomes, reduced costs, and enhanced services.

What We Do

MBA Students

We support delivery of an MBA program that allows students to focus on healthcare through appropriate courses, extracurricular activities, and recruiting opportunities.

Faculty

We facilitate collaboration among faculty members and support the generation of new knowledge and concepts in healthcare management and innovation.

Alumni

We engage alumni to participate in healthcare activities at HBS and support the ongoing development of the alumni healthcare network.

Executive Education

We develop and promote programs that disseminate knowledge and influence practice across all sectors of the healthcare industry.

Harvard University

We foster collaboration across the University among likeminded groups of faculty, students, and staff.

Who We Are

Richard G. Hamermesh Faculty Co-Chair

Richard Hamermesh created and teaches the second-year MBA elective, Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Healthcare. As the first faculty chair of the Healthcare Initiative, Professor Hamermesh plays a critical role in defining and shaping the mission of the Initiative. He continues to have a hands-on role in leading and promoting the Initiative.

Robert S. Huckman Faculty Co-Chair

Robert Huckman teaches the second-year course in Operations Strategy and has taught executive education programs and the first-year course in Technology and Operations Management. He is a Faculty Research Fellow in the health care program of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the co-chair of the management track of Harvard's doctoral program in health policy.

Cara Sterling Director

Cara Sterling is the director of the Healthcare Initiative at Harvard Business School. As its founding director, she is responsible for creating and overseeing all aspects of the Initiative, including student programming, alumni outreach, and healthcare faculty support. She holds MBA and MPH degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining HBS Ms. Sterling worked in the healthcare industry for 15 years with payor, provider, and biopharma organizations.

Healthcare Initiative Advisory Board

The Harvard Business School HCI Advisory Board provides oversight to the Initiative. This active group of senior healthcare professionals from across the globe provides input on the healthcare curriculum, offers opinions on research direction, supports student placement efforts, and assists in promoting the Healthcare Initiative.