Impact in Healthcare

Experience Stanford GSB with a focus on health care through experiential learning, coursework, fellowships, summer experiences, and more.

COVID-19 has transformed the way we approach national and global health care challenges. In addition, trends in technological advancements are reinventing the industry. We will help you find where you fit and develop the skills you need to succeed and catalyze impact.

Join a Community of Passionate Health Care Leaders

From redesigning wheelchairs to operating mobile medical clinics for the homeless, Stanford GSB nurtures a dedicated community that improves health outcomes. Our alumni offer advice and inspiration.

Learn from the Experts

Stanford GSB offers the opportunity to understand the business of health care, innovate health care solutions, and understand the politics of the industry. Courses around the university provide a more scientific perspective.

Featured Courses

  • Innovation and Management in Health Care
  • Biodesign Innovations
  • Leading Strategic Change in the Health Care Industry
  • Health Information Technology and Strategy
  • Leading and Managing Health Care Organizations: Innovation and Collaboration in High Stakes Settings

Faculty Insights

With Grace

In his quest to cure his daughter’s ultra-rare disease, Matt Wilsey might also be changing the way drugs are made.

Make a Difference While Learning

Whether participating on the Stanford GSB Impact Fund health care deal team or innovating mental health care solutions through a summer experience, our experiential learning opportunities will allow you to explore your health care interest in depth. Fellowships are available to make these experiences possible.

Carlotta Glatzel
MBA ’21
Impact Design Immersion Fellowship

Carlotta has a passion for pediatric health care. She used her IDIF to focus on mental health for children and adolescents — 50% of mental diseases start before the age of 14 and 75% before the age of 24. She strives to increase access to mental health resources and therapies for children and adolescents in Germany. Effective solutions for this underserved and vulnerable population are key for a sustainable impact on the mental health crisis.

Austin Ward
MBA ’21
Impact Fund Health Care Director of Investments

Coming from a global health and development background, Austin was looking to gain practical experience in investing. The Impact Fund was a perfect fit for that: a forum to stay plugged into social innovation and an opportunity to try out early-stage venture investing. He is convinced there are immense opportunities for social innovation to improve people's health worldwide. He says, “Beyond the core skills of sourcing early-stage companies, I've gained a profound appreciation for the difficulty (and opportunity!) of measuring and comparing the impact of organizations, especially across sectors."

Tyler Smith
MBA ’19
Social Management Immersion Fund Fellowship

During the summer between his MBA1 and MBA2 year, Tyler took advantage of the SMIF program, and he interned at Rock Health, the first venture fund dedicated to digital health. Organized as a nonprofit, Rock Health provides early-stage funding to digital health companies that are moving digital health, and health care in general, forward. He evaluated numerous early-stage digital health ventures, and two of the companies that he wrote investment memos for — Avive and Marigold Health — were approved and invested in by Rock Health. He enjoyed the opportunity to work with an incredible team and meet entrepreneurs from all over the world. This exposure allowed Tyler to bring together venture and social impact as he continues his career in digital health as co-founder and CEO of Health Data Movers.

Yaritza Vargas
MBA ’21
Social Management Immersion Fund Fellowship

CoachMe Health’s mission is to reduce the health disparities facing low-income Americans. Yaritza interned with CoachMe with her fellowship. During the summer, she built a new remote patient monitoring product that captures key patient metrics from low tech literacy clients to drive data-driven coaching by exploring new ways of increasing health literacy remotely and in a culturally sensitive manner. In addition, she worked closely with the founder to identify new partners and pitch opportunities for CoachMe to expand its reach and impact.

Understand the Field

Stanford GSB students are exposed to new ideas and expansive networks in the health care industry through special events, including a student-led conference and guest speakers from hospitals, top health care companies, and innovative health ventures.

Stanford Alumni Association

Produced by the Stanford GSB Health Care Club, the annual conference brings together 1,000+ attendees with backgrounds ranging from leading health care executives, clinicians, public policy specialists, and scholars.

Merck CEO Ken Frazier discussed improving the global health care system, the opportunity gap in the U.S., and the importance of leaders providing dynamic mentoring.

COVID-19 has put substantial stress on every aspect of the U.S. health care system, from hospitals to insurers, to the medical supply chain, to employers responsible for the wellbeing of their employees. Watch a panel discussion on the U.S. health care system and COVID-19.

Power Your Health Care Career Right after Graduation

Through prizes, fellowships, awards, and loan forgiveness, students have gone on to create high-impact ventures that tackle issues from mental health care for teens to an app-based diagnosis tool for doctors in Nigeria. Other students have gone on to join healthcare NGOs, social ventures, and government agencies.

Experience the Potential of an Interdisciplinary University Network

When you join Stanford GSB, you gain access to Stanford’s extensive interdisciplinary resources dedicated to health care innovation.