Medical Student Business Fellowship
How to apply? Please submit a resume, cover letter and one paragraph describing your prior experience and specific interest in the fellowship program.
Medical Student Business Fellowship
You will work with Geisinger’s executive leadership to develop a business plan for a high-priority system initiative, such as:
- Improving hospital processes
- Improving care management
- Managing payor strategies
- Developing IT strategies
You will research and analyze data, develop hypotheses and present your findings and recommendations.
Hire type: Full-time with competitive pay
Duration: 8 to 12 weeks depending on students’ summer schedule
Location: Geisinger Medical Center Danville, Pennsylvania
Helping you prepare for the future of healthcare
The Medical Student Business Fellowship offers unique opportunities for education and hands-on training in the following areas:
- Healthcare financing: Healthcare costs in the U.S. continue to rise, and organizations have an opportunity to contribute to the solution by driving toward greater value in healthcare. Physicians will play a pivotal role in charting this path toward greater value, and this will be enabled by equipping physicians with a deeper understanding of the economic complexities and challenges in healthcare.
- Management and leadership: Along with their clinical duties, physicians are taking on more responsibilities in health system administration and executive leadership. The number of MD/MBA joint degree programs have more than doubled since 2000, as medical schools are realizing that building students’ skill sets in management and leadership are crucial for the development of future physician leaders.
- Health systems science: There is increasing emphasis on health system science education in medical school curricula, including coursework on healthcare quality, patient safety, value-based care, and population health. National organizations such as the American Medical Association have dedicated multi-million dollar grants so that medical schools can build out health systems curricula, and health systems science is being incorporated in medical board licensing exams.
How does the fellowship work?
Discover
Business plan assignment
Assess
Participate in team meetings and problem solve
Present
Present your business plan
Do I qualify?
Must
- Be actively enrolled in medical school
- Work independently without supervision
- Have strong research and analytical capabilities
Preferred
- Prior business experience, such as consulting or healthcare administration
- Enrolled in joint MD/MBA program
Featured projects
Over the course of the summer, fellows worked on projects including:
- Assessed workflow changes and processes in the Steele Institute and Community Medicine service line
- Identified process improvement opportunities for operating room procedures
- Helped design a record tracking system for postoperative notes
- Collaborated with the pharmacy team on a feature in Geisinger ProvenRecovery
- Developed a new initiative to assist with remote patient monitoring
- Designed and implemented a pilot with the LIFE Geisinger program
- Conducted a literature review to reduce adverse outcomes and improve best practices in Geisinger hospitals
- Assisted with clinical workflow design of the Acute Care at Home program
- Analyzed the chief complaints of select patient populations presenting to the Emergency Department
- Assessed opportunities to improve in-basket message volume for endocrinology providers
Alumni outcomes
Past fellows have gone on to pursue a variety of clinical interests at residency programs across the country:
- Maryam Alausa – Third-year medical student at University of Pennsylvania
- Prerak Juthani – Internal Medicine at Stanford Medicine
- Kenneth Lee – Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
- Jessica Lin – Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital
- Neil Rens – Anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital
- Michael Sessine – Urology at Wayne State University
- Diane Somlo – Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital
- Daniel Thomas – Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
- Jack Zhao – Internal Medicine at University of Chicago Medical Center
2022 Fellows
“Geisinger’s mission centers around improving outcomes across its entire patient population. This fellowship gave me an invaluable glimpse into the strategic and operational initiatives needed to help patients beyond the bedside.”
Angela Malinovitch
Hometown: Wilkes-Barre, PA
Medical school: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate school: University of Pennsylvania
Specialty of interest: Surgery, Anesthesiology
Prior work experience: Associate at Boston Consulting Group
“My fellowship experience pulled back the curtain on the most important decisions facing health systems today. It was a privilege to learn from Geisinger’s provider-led executive team, a rare opportunity not often afforded to medical students.”
Akhil Upneja
Hometown: State College, PA
Medical school: Yale University
Undergraduate school: Yale University
Specialty of interest: Internal Medicine
Prior work experience: Policy analyst for Massachusetts Office of Health and Human Services