"Carey’s MBA sits at the perfect intersection of business, health, and innovation"

What program are you pursuing at Johns Hopkins, and what drew you to it?

I am pursuing a full-time MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in the Health, Technology, and Innovation concentration starting August 2025 and will be graduating in May 2027.

Healthcare systems in countries like India and Nepal are often unaffordable, even for middle-class families, where a single medical emergency can devastate livelihoods. These systems face significant challenges, including inequities in access to care, operational inefficiencies, and a persistent mismatch in the supply and demand for infrastructure and workforce.

With over six years of experience largely in the nonprofit sector in India, I was ready to transition into core healthcare consulting. This transition required enhancing my leadership skills and gaining critical business acumen, which is why pursuing an MBA at this stage was essential.

An MBA would empower me to integrate my real-world public health expertise and insights with cutting-edge innovations, such as generative AI in healthcare, and business strategies. This combination would allow me to design solutions that enhance access, reduce costs, and improve efficiency in healthcare delivery globally.

Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s focus on the intersection of business and health aligned seamlessly with my career aspirations. With its faculty specializing in healthcare, dedicated centers such as the Center for Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence and the Hopkins Business of Health Initiative, and proximity to School of Medicine, Carey provides an unparalleled environment to explore healthcare management and strategy through both academic and hands-on learning.

Carey’s MBA program offers a distinctive blend of business and health that will empower me to drive impactful solutions in healthcare management and strategy.

You’ve spent several years in public health. What inspired your shift toward an MBA in healthcare innovation, and how does your past experience connect with your goals at Carey?

Over the past six years, I’ve worked at the intersection of data, strategy, and public health in India, largely within nonprofits and research-focused consultancies. My experiences span reproductive, maternal and child health, tuberculosis, nutrition, health systems research, and climate and migration. In these roles, I led large-scale evaluations, built data systems and dashboards, and translated evidence into actionable strategy.

At Population Council Consulting, for example, I supported program funding through advanced data analysis and led evaluations that improved data-driven decision-making for health programs. These experiences taught me the importance of systems-level thinking and innovation in addressing global health inequities.

However, I also recognized the limitations of technical expertise without strong business acumen. That’s what prompted my shift toward an MBA focused on health innovation. Carey’s emphasis on integrating health and business will allow me to complement my public health background with advanced skills in leadership, strategy, and operations.

I see my past work as the foundation for my next chapter — building a career in healthcare consulting and eventually leading innovations that promote equitable, efficient care through data-driven, technology-enabled solutions.

What do you hope to gain through your MBA journey, both personally and professionally?

In the short term, after graduating from Carey, I aspire to work with leading healthcare consulting firms to deepen my expertise in healthcare strategy and operations. My focus will be on process improvement for payers and providers — leveraging data-driven insights to enhance interoperability and strengthen digital healthcare systems.

These roles will help me hone my consulting and leadership skills while better serving the needs of healthcare organizations. In the long term, I aim to become a global leader in healthcare systems, inspired by my grassroots experiences in developing countries where cultural context shapes the delivery of care.

I want to combine my expertise in healthcare data analytics with my passion for technology integration to drive evidence-based decision-making and design solutions that improve access and outcomes. Ultimately, I hope to build mission-driven healthcare enterprises that balance innovation with equity.

Looking ahead, what kind of impact do you hope to make in India and globally with your new skillset?

I hope to be a driving force in shaping equitable and efficient healthcare systems — blending grassroots understanding with cutting-edge business and technological innovation. My experience leading public health evaluations has given me a deep appreciation for the complexities of health systems, especially in low-resource settings. Now, I want to apply this perspective to systems-level change.

At Carey, I plan to strengthen my leadership and strategy skills while exploring new frontiers like AI, big data, augmented reality, and metaverse applications in healthcare. These tools can transform how we design policies, train workforces, and deliver care.

In the long term, I envision launching a healthcare startup that addresses challenges such as diagnostic gaps, workforce training, and last-mile delivery. I also hope to adapt lessons from the U.S. healthcare model — particularly around payer-provider dynamics and innovation adoption — for emerging markets. Whether leading a consulting team, building a startup, or influencing policy, I’m committed to creating sustainable and inclusive healthcare solutions that make an enduring difference.