Today I’m bringing you my first interview. It involves a colleague who is seeking an MBA. The topic was mentioned on my blog at Top 10 Reasons to Pursue a Business Degree. This interview should provide additional insights in to the issue.

You may have been expecting an episode addressing mentors, but I decided that I wanted to present this conversation first. The episode about mentors will follow this one.

Today’s episode is a little bit different from those I plan to present in the future. Instead of interviewing an expert on a topic, I'm having a conversation with a family physician who is just beginning his journey to a nonclinical career.

Enter Dr. Jaiswal

His name is Atish Jaiswal and he practices at the Bon Secours Health System in Suffern, New York.

Atish contacted me via LinkedIn after reading one of my blog posts. He asked a couple of questions and we began a dialogue.

I learned that he is a board-certified family physician in full-time practice. But he is also in the final  months of a physician executive MBA program. That intrigued me. Based on additional conversations, I thought it would be informative for him to explain why he is pursuing his MBA, and his impressions of the program.

Thinking ahead, I hope to circle back to Atish in 6 to 12 months to discover how his pivot to a non-clinical career is going. So I want to present this part now.

The Physician Executive MBA

One of the things we discuss is his physician executive MBA program. This MBA is a type of executive MBA, which is, itself, a sub-type of MBAs in general.

Let me explain.

An MBA is a business degree, of course. Anyone with a bachelor’s degree and other business school admission requirements may apply and participate. An executive MBA is a degree program designed for those who are already working in a management role. So, they’re usually more flexible and the participants are usually more seasoned.

As you can imagine, a physician executive MBA is aimed at practicing physicians working in a management capacity, at least on a part-time basis. I just wanted that to be clear since it is discussed during our conversation.

The interview includes a discussion of the pros and cons of entering an MBA program.

Don't Miss the Bonus Recording

There is a BONUS at the end for those who wish to indulge. After we completed the interview, Atish wanted to ask me a few questions. The recorder was still rolling, so there is about a ten-minute recording of him interviewing me!

We discuss my role as a hospital chief medical officer and the “CPE” which stands for Certified Physician Executive. It is a certification that physician executives can obtain through the Certifying Commission in Medical Management, which was developed by the AAPL. This bonus is totally optional, but some of you might enjoy the conversation.

There you have it. I hope you found this interview inspiring and informative.

If you enjoyed it, you might like to go back and listen to the prior two episodes of the podcast:

Coming Soon

In Episode 4 of Physician NonClinical Careers, I'll be talking about mentors and coaches.

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Here is a list of resources mentioned in this episode:

Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate your time and attention. I’ll be with you again soon – right here at Physician NonClinical Careers.

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