By Karoline Mortensen
The Health Executive MBA program of the University of Miami’s Herbert Business School is celebrating nearly forty-five years of regional, national, and global educational service to the health care community. The Miami Herbert Health Executive MBA program is the number one ranked health executive program by U.S. News & World Report in the United States. It is the only program in the country holding prestigious accreditations or a member of four leading international accrediting, certification, and invite-only membership bodies: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), the Association of MBAs (AMBA), and the Business School Alliance for Health Management (BAHM). The program curriculum meets and exceeds the highest standards of national and global business and health management education. The program has successfully graduated well over 1,000 alums now serving in roles like CEOs, Vice Presidents, CFOs, physicians and nurse executives, other executives, attorneys, entrepreneurs, and other professions and reflecting the broad field of health and health care.
The Miami Herbert Executive MBA program is the only program in the United States that has two former U.S. Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Secretary Shalala and Secretary Azar, and a University President who is a former Health Minister of Mexico, on the faculty.
We are delighted to announce that our Health Executive MBA students will be having a unique and special experience as these two former Secretaries of Health and Human Services will be co-teaching the upcoming graduate course in Public Policy and Health. This will be the first time in the nation that two secretaries of Health and Human Services will co-teach a health policy course. Their varied backgrounds and experience will expose our students to unique discourse and excellent learning opportunities.
Donna E. Shalala has more than four decades of experience as an accomplished scholar, teacher, and administrator. She is currently a Trustee Professor of Political Science and Health Policy at the University of Miami. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Shalala U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) where she served for eight years, becoming the longest-serving HHS Secretary in U.S. history. At the end of her tenure, a Washington Post article described her as “one of the most successful government managers of modern times.” Dr. Shalala recently served as a member of the U.S. House of Representative from Florida for one term, 2018 to 2020.
The Honorable Alex M. Azar II has extensive healthcare experience in the senior-most levels of the U.S. government and the private sector that gives him a unique perspective and background. He has committed his professional career to protect and enhancing the health of all Americans. Azar served as the 24th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2018-2021), leading over 85,000 employees with a budget of over $1.4 trillion, the largest budget of any cabinet department on Earth. He was the architect of Operation Warp Speed, delivering COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics in record time. He led the historic transformation of the healthcare system in the United States and HHS’s response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Azar served for five years (2012-2017) as president of Lilly USA, LLC, the largest affiliate of global biopharmaceutical leader Eli Lilly and Company, producing over $10 billion in revenue (2016).
This outstanding opportunity is one of the many features of the Miami Herbert Health Executive MBA that demonstrates excellence in higher education. For more information on our program, please visit https://go.miami.edu/hemba.
Karoline Mortensen is a Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Miami Herbert Business School. She is Associate Dean for Business Programs, Associate Director of the Center for Health Management and Policy, and the founding Director of the Master of Health Administration (MHA) program. For more information, visit www.bus.miami.edu.
