Top Business School Launches Healthcare Leadership Center

The healthcare field is booming — and one of the country’s top business schools is taking steps to help the industry meet its growing need for leaders.

The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management announced the new Northwestern Medicine Kellogg Healthcare Leadership Center as part of a collaboration with Northwestern Medicine. The new center was established with a $10 million endowment.

Northwestern officials want the new center to “become the preeminent place to educate a cadre of leaders in healthcare through leadership training, experiential teaching, research and innovation,” according to a Kellogg release.

The new center will give Kellogg’s MBA students real-world experience in clinical settings at Northwestern Medicine, one of the country’s preeminent healthcare systems and one of the largest employers in the state.

“As we at Kellogg continue to deepen our commitment to the healthcare space, the Northwestern Medicine Kellogg Healthcare Leadership Center stands as a beacon of collaboration and innovation,” Kellogg Dean Francesca Cornelli said in the release.

“By bridging business acumen with healthcare expertise, we are poised to redefine leadership in care delivery. Our dedication to rigorous research, education and strategic partnerships will drive lasting impact, benefiting patients, practitioners and the entire healthcare ecosystem.”

The new center comes amid a surging need for healthcare administrators. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a meteoric rise in the employment of medical and health services managers over the next decade: Employment of these professionals is projected to grow 29% over the next decade, with professionals earning a median salary of $110,680 as of May 2023.

And that’s only one job within the vast field of healthcare leadership. The Northwestern release notes that the healthcare sector represents more than 17% of the U.S. economy.

“The goal for the Northwestern Medicine Kellogg Healthcare Leadership Center is to empower future healthcare leaders and prepare them for transformational change in how we plan for and deliver patient care into the next decade and beyond,” Northwestern Memorial HealthCare President and CEO Howard Chrisman said in the release. “We believe this center will have a positive impact on future leaders that goes beyond the clinical setting and will have a lasting impact on the communities we serve.”

The new center isn’t Northwestern’s first foray into healthcare management. Kellogg in August announced a new business of healthcare certificate program for full- and part-time MBA students.

In a release at the time, Cornelli said that the certificate “offers an invaluable opportunity to gain a deep understanding of the industry and opportunities for real-world impact.”

Healthcare at Kellogg Faculty Director Craig Garthwaite said that the program “is designed to equip MBA students with in-demand skills, providing them with a distinctive point of view and competitive edge in this field.”

A number of business schools now offer healthcare management as a specialization or certification within their MBA programs, including the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and the Penn State Smeal College of Business. Within its MBA program, Kellogg offers healthcare as a “pathway,” or a sequence of courses that help students familiarize themselves with particular industries or skill sets.