MBA

Profiles

Tony Perez, MD/MBA 2010

As a candidate in the joint MD/MBA program, Tony Perez has a very specific focus: healthcare. "I'm interested in practicing medicine and in administration — running a large medical center," Tony says. "HBS helps me integrate general management with clinical medicine."

"Doctors are excellent at caring for patients"diagnosing and treating disease," says Tony. "But the overall American healthcare system has not been so good at creating a sustainable model for healthcare delivery. Our system has not been able to integrate its many players — doctors, hospitals, insurers, pharma, and government, whose goals historically have not always aligned. We need people who can address fundamental policy and management issues."

Finding his voice

In his fourth year of the five-year joint degree program, Tony is immersed in HBS' Required Curriculum. "Healthcare is part of just about every class," Tony notes. "It's a good way to see healthcare from multiple management angles, such as operations, organizational behavior, corporate accountability, and strategy."

Even more important is the program's emphasis on leadership. "The case method is a phenomenal way for me to find my own voice. We're forced to make thousands of management judgments each year. As in medicine, in which we are trained to make timely decisions to save lives, managers are required to make difficult choices that have deep societal consequences. At HBS, you become comfortable tackling complex managerial challenges with imperfect information. And in healthcare, that's essential, because we need to make important choices without knowing what the landscape will be like in five or ten years."

"The diversity of student opinions and voices at HBS is always energizing," Tony says. "You get the perspectives of former consultants and marketers jostling with those from students who have worked in manufacturing and nonprofits. There's a constant give-and-take among people who see the world in very different ways."

Life goals

"What impresses me most about HBS," says Tony, "is that it's really not just about achieving individual success, but about determining how we will make our impact on the world around us. It's about solving problems and finding ways to make a contribution. There's a desire to serve society by applying management skills to challenges."

This summer, Tony will go deeper into the clinical practice part of his profession by entering a medical rotation at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. His ultimate goal, however, is to impact health through both clinical medicine and management: "In addition to dedicating my life's efforts to caring for patients, I'd like to one day be president of a large hospital or healthcare system."