http://www.hbs.edu/mba/academics/mdmba.html

Vision and Mission

In 2004, recognizing the critical need in today's world for leaders who are educated in the intellectual disciplines and practices of medicine and management, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Harvard Business School (HBS) established a joint MD-MBA program to develop outstanding physician leaders, skilled in both medicine and management, to take positions of influence through which they will contribute substantially to the health and well-being of individuals and society. The Harvard MD-MBA Program, structured to be completed in five academic years, educates prospective leaders of organizations that deliver and finance health services as well as those who develop and market pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other health-related products.

Curriculum

The five-year MD-MBA Program integrates the curricula of both HMS and HBS and is rigorously grounded in the concepts and practice of medicine and management. The program provides opportunities for students and faculty to merge these disciplines through new course work and scholarly pursuits.

Students in the MD-MBA Program spend the first three years at HMS, completing preclerkship requirements, including courses in healthcare policy and management and a four- to eight-week management internship in the summer following the first year, and the Principal Clinical Experience in Year III. All MD-MBA candidates must complete the Introduction to Health Care Management course (HC706) in the spring semester of Year I and a suitable Summer Internship experience during the summer between Years I and II of the MD program.

In the fall of Year III, during the PCE, joint MD-MBA students are enrolled in a required Medicine and Management course (IN601.0) on Tuesday afternoons. Beginning with the MD-MBA Class of 2014, the Primary Care Clerkship (PCC) requirement will be completed as a longitudinal weekly course on Tuesday afternoons between January and June during the PCE year.If students are enrolled in electives in May and June, the course or clerkship directors will be notified of the requirement to attend the PCC on Tuesday afternoons (or other times, such as evening clinics, if applicable). Because of the stringent attendance requirements of the core subinternships (Medicine II; Advanced Pediatrics), students in the joint degree program will not be eligible to enroll in the required Medicine II or Advanced Pediatrics subinternship until after the completion of the PCC in June.

The fourth year of the joint program is spent at HBS, completing the requirements of the first-year core business curriculum (Required Curriculum or RC year). Students in the fifth year of this five-year joint program will take courses in the Elective Curriculum (EC) of the MBA Program and courses at HMS. At HBS, students may take elective courses in one or both terms, including:

• At least 18 credits overall
• At least 15 classroom-based credits

Joint MD-MBA students typically spend one semester of Year V at HMS and one at HBS. Because interviewing for residencies programs is most intensive in the fall and early winter, many MD-MBA students do the EC at HBS during the spring semester of Year V.

Although HST students are eligible to apply to the program, completing the basic research-intensive HST curriculum and its required research thesis along with the MBA curriculum and its required internship make it unlikely to accomplish all of the requirements in five years. In addition, the goals of the HST program and of the MD-MBA Program are quite different. For the unusual student who is judged by the faculty to be a candidate for successfully completing these two programs, the sequence in which the courses are taken and how to resolve conflicts in requirements for the two programs will need to be determined in consultation with the MD-MBA Program Directors.

Admissions

Applicants interested in the MD-MBA Program who seek admission to both schools concurrently apply to HMS and HBS separately and are selected independently. When applying, students must identify their interest in the joint degree program. While each school will maintain its separate admissions timetables, all applicants interested in the joint degree program are required to apply to HBS in the first two of three rounds. All applicants interested in the joint degree program are required to apply to HMS by the standard November deadline.

Students who are currently enrolled at either HMS or HBS and are interested in pursuing both MD and MBA degrees are advised to contact the MD-MBA Program's leadership for guidance (Stan Finkelstein, MD, stan_finkelstein@hms.harvard.edu; Richard Bohmer, MD, rbohmer@hbs.edu). These students will need to submit an application to the other degree program.

Students currently enrolled in the HMS MD Program may apply to HBS only during their second year at HMS and only in the first of three rounds of HBS admissions. HMS students will be considered for the joint MD-MBA Program only if they have completed the Introduction to Health Care Management course in the spring semester of Year I and the Summer Management Experience  during the summer between Years I and II of the MD program. Both are also required of students who are admitted to the joint MD-MBA concurrently.

The HBS Admissions Office will make its decisions independently and will advise applicants whether they will be admitted to the MBA program. A committee of the HMS PME will then review each student’s record and judge whether the student will be supported to enter the five-year program. In some cases, it may be determined that a student’s best interests are served by focusing on a single degree program at one time, and such students would be offered the opportunity to complete the HBS two-year MBA program to which they have already been admitted.

Once a student has been admitted to and enrolled in the joint MD-MBA Program, the student must complete satisfactorily the requirements for both degrees in order to achieve graduation from Harvard with MD and MBA degrees in the same year. If the student withdraws from HBS due to academic performance issues, the student must be enrolled for a full four years of medical school at HMS to fulfill requirements for the MD degree. If the student withdraws from HMS and wants to continue with the MBA program, the student must petition HBS for enrollment in the two-year MBA program. In neither instance will the student be allowed to complete a single degree in the abbreviated time afforded to joint degree students.

All students who are admitted to the joint MD-MBA Program must complete all of the requirements of the first three years of the MD Program in good academic standing, including successful completion of USMLE Step 1 (taken prior to entering the HMS PCE) and of the HMS Year III comprehensive exam in June following the PCE, prior to entering the first year at HBS. Students who encounter academic difficulty in the MD program and are sanctioned by the HMS Promotion and Review Board are not eligible to apply to the combined MD-MBA Program, and students accepted into the combined program will not be eligible to enter the MBA component of the program if they fail to maintain good academic standing at the Medical School before matriculation at HBS in Year IV of the five-year program.

Students in the joint MD/MBA program are required, as are all HMS students, to complete the Scholars in Medicine (SIM) requirement, beginning with students who enter the MD program in August 2011 or later. A requirement to be admitted to the MD/MBA program is the completion of a management-related experience during the summer following your first year at HMS. Many of the entries in the SIM database of mentors and projects are management-related. In addition, a special section of the database will offer a selection of summer experiences intended specifically for applicants to the MD/MBA program. If you opt to continue to work with your mentor during the summer, you will have already developed a carefully thought-out plan for your continued work. Whatever you choose will fit into one of the Scholars in Medicine Content Areas. If you have questions about whether your selection from the database is a fit for the MD/MBA program, please check with the course directors or Dr. Stan Finkelstein, HMS Director of the MD/MBA program, at finkelstein@hcp.med.harvard.edu.

Tuition and Financial Aid

In Years I, II, and III of the joint MD-MBA Program, a student will be registered at HMS, pursuing core medical school requirements, and will be charged the prevailing HMS tuition and fees. The student will apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in these years and will be subject to standard HMS financial aid policies. In Year IV, the student will be registered at HBS, pursuing the MBA required curriculum and will be charged the prevailing HBS tuition and fees. The student will apply to the HBS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in Year IV and will be subject to standard HBS financial aid policies. In Year V, when the student is enrolled in both HMS and HBS, the student's primary school of enrollment will be HMS, and the student will be billed the prevailing HMS full-year tuition and fees. The student will apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid. For more information, students are urged to speak with the financial aid offices at each school.

Students in the joint MD-MBA Program pay 8 semesters of tuition to HMS and 2 semesters of tuition to HBS, or a total of 5 years of tuition. However, HMS reimburses HBS for tuition for one semester of the fifth year, so in effect joint MD/MBA students pay 7 semesters of tuition to HMS and 3 semesters of tuition to HBS. Joint MD-MBA students who enroll in HMS (with approval of both HMS and the MD-MBA Program) beyond the five years of the joint program will be assessed HMS tuition for a 9^th semester, or a total of 8 semesters of HMS tuition, and will be charged the standard HMS facilities fee for the 9^th semester of HMS enrollment, as is the case for all MD students who extend their MD enrollment beyond four years (or 8 semesters). See section 6.02: Tuition Requirements for MD Candidates for more information.

Leaves of Absence and Additional Academic Year Policy

Harvard medical School students have historically been allowed the flexibility to spend a year during medical school to do research or other scholarly “enrichment” activities and then return to complete their formal medical education (see Section 1.05). MD-MBA joint degree students are enrolled in a five-year, integrated program leading to both an MD degree and an MBA degree. The joint degree program has been constructed to allow students to, in essence, “save a year” of study. Given the integrated nature of the MD-MBA joint degree program and the stated goal of the program for students to complete the joint degree in a single five-year span of time, extensions to this program are exceptional and are considered on a case-by-case basis. This policy delineates the circumstances under which joint degree students will be allowed to request a leave of absence or an additional scholarly enrichment year from the joint program. For MD-MBA joint degree students, the policy of the joint degree program is to permit an enrichment/scholarship year only after the fourth year of the joint program. This policy allows the student to spend three years at HMS and one year at HBS, thus completing a significant portion of the joint/integrated curriculum prior to the scholarly enrichment year. Scholarly enrichment years will normally be for the period of July 1 to June 30. Additional enrichment/academic years must be completed prior to the final year of enrollment in the joint MD-MBA Program.

1. Interruptions to the five-year curriculum are generally considered to be either voluntary leaves of absence (periods of time when the enrolled joint degree student is not enrolled in the program for a specified period of time for a specific reason), scholarly enrichment years, or involuntary leaves (when a joint degree student is no longer enrolled in the joint degree program because of academic, conduct, or other serious reasons). See Sections 2.09 and 4.05 for more details about voluntary and involuntary Leaves of Absence.
2. MD-MBA joint degree students required to take an involuntary leave for any reason will not be allowed to continue in the joint degree program. Under such circumstances, students wishing to pursue a traditional two-year MBA degree are required to petition HBS to be granted entry into the single degree program. If the student is granted entry into the two-year MBA and remains enrolled in the MD program, the MBA must be completed after all requirements for the MD program have been fulfilled and the student has graduated from HMS.
3. Voluntary leave or scholarly enrichment year requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Students must be in good academic standing at both the Medical School and the Business School and meet all applicable requirements and policies of the joint degree program and the partner schools.
4. Students are required to provide a detailed, written petition to the MD-MBA Program Directorsrequesting a one-year leave of absence or an enrichment year addressing the activity to be undertaken during the year and the student’s individual goals in taking the LOA or enrichment year.
5. The deadline for submitting a petition is March 1^st or the first business day after March 1^st of the calendar year.
6. Students requesting an “enrichment” or additional academic year of enrollment at HMS must submit a proposal to and gain the approval of the Scholars in Medicine (SIM) committee through the SIM fellow in their Academic Society.

NB: For students receiving the MBA degree as well as the MD degree, five years are required if in the joint MD-MBA Program; six are required if a student is in the 2-year MBA program. On a case by case basis, a student may petition for one or two additional years. The student pays tuition for four years (8 semesters) for the MD degree and additional tuition for the Master's degree taken at another school of the University. Ordinarily a student in this category will not be permitted to remain at HMS beyond seven years. See Section 2.08 for more information.