A Master of Business Administration (MBA) program that is the first of its kind doesn’t thrive unless it delivers exceptional value to its graduates. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business Physician Executive MBA (PEMBA) was the first MBA program designed exclusively for physicians. As the success of its alumni over the last 25 years demonstrates, the program provides students with the tools and knowledge to effortlessly move between consultations, the operating room and the C-suite.
One practical way PEMBA students prepare for such transitions is by completing a year-long Organizational Action Project (OAP). No one-size-fits-all undertaking, OAPs are solutions students develop to address challenges specific to their organizations. Students use OAPs to contribute to their organizations’ success with guidance from an advisor and the application of concepts learned in the program.
Examples of these successes include Michelle Nichols (PEMBA, ’21), then Morehouse School of Medicine’s associate dean for clinical affairs and medical director for Morehouse Healthcare, who used her OAP to help establish a comprehensive healthcare facility in an underserved Atlanta area. Nichols is now Meharry Medical College’s senior vice president of clinical affairs. Another example of OAP success is Keel Coleman (PEMBA, ’16), an emergency physician with Carilion Clinic, who used his OAP to co‑found ArchiveCore, a software platform that speeds up the physician credentialing process.
According to Bruce Behn, Deloitte LLP Professor in Accounting and founding member of the PEMBA faculty, the program’s quarter century of excellence is grounded in the fact that the curriculum was developed from, and is reinforced by, close consultation with practicing physicians.
“From its founding with medical community input, to faculty teaching the latest business applications in the healthcare industry to the concierge service attitude that the entire PEMBA team brings to their work, every aspect of the program contributes to an unparalleled student experience,” Behn said. “Each unique OAP is the culmination of the effort and care brought by everyone involved, allowing the widest latitude to students to complete a task that benefits them and their companies.”
The variety of OAPs completed by the 48 graduates of the 25th PEMBA cohort was no different. For instance, Yevgeniy (Gene) Gincherman used his OAP to take an existing model, “the four cornerstones of compassion,” for compassionate physician leadership training and practice, and expand and refine its applicability for leaders in a variety of settings. In contrast, Raza Hussain, an addiction medicine specialist, developed a business plan for opening a new addiction medicine practice in Nashville to help address the opioid epidemic.
Kate Atchley, distinguished lecturer, director of Executive MBA in Healthcare Leadership and director of Physician Executive MBA, was Gincherman’s OAP advisor, and Amy Cathey, distinguished lecturer and executive director of Graduate and Executive Education, was Hussain’s. They view the OAP process as both demanding and rewarding for their advisees.
“Gene’s adaptation of the four cornerstones of compassion to broader applications was very successful, but he had to use the OAP to think outside the box and test how modifications to an already successful model would work in these new contexts,” Atchley said.
Cathey noted that Hussain was the only addiction medicine specialist in the class, so his OAP leveraged his specialized knowledge of his field and patient base.
“At the same time, he used concepts from the PEMBA program to build a business plan from the ground up,” she said. “His OAP is a great example of applying business principles to healthcare with the goal of creating better outcomes.”
Hussain and Gincherman say that, beyond completing their OAPs, they did more than grow their skill sets in PEMBA’s 25th cohort. Hussain noted it was useful to hear the unique perspectives of physicians in other specialties, as they were all working toward the common goal of learning the business side of medicine.
“It was user-friendly, but challenging, and I quickly learned to use Excel and other software I didn’t have much experience with,” Hussain said. “Also, it’s very interactive; we worked in teams to do assignments, and we were split into cohorts with members from across the country, so you got a lot of interaction and teamwork along with individual assignments.”
Gincherman, now working as a medical officer in Air and Marine Operations with Council for Logistics Research, Inc., which supports U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer, said the program addressed professional areas he was interested in.
Gincherman said, “The program was diverse and not your traditional MBA—it almost felt like an MBA, but also a [master] of healthcare leadership, and that appealed to me more than sort of a traditional finance and accounting MBA. That’s not to say those weren’t in it, but I wanted a program that did both well. PEMBA did.”
He added that while he started PEMBA to brush up on his business skills, he found what he was doing with his OAP was more than refining a business tool. While still in the program, he was able to present his compassionate leadership model in several settings, including on a volunteer mission to help refugees in Ukraine and in an ongoing project sponsored by Stanbic, the largest bank in Uganda.
“It’s a way of life,” he said. “The OAP is beyond just a business project.”
CONTACT:
Scott McNutt, business writer/publicist, rmcnutt4@utk.edu
