Why MCiM

MCiM is an intense – but achievable and rewarding – academic experience for working professionals. Because the program combines flexible online learning with on-campus classes every other week, it can be completed alongside a demanding work schedule in only 12 months. MCiM is the only interdisciplinary management program of its kind on the West Coast, bringing together leaders in the fields of medicine, business, and technology. MCiM faculty are world-renowned Stanford scholars committed to innovating health care through the power of digital technology and to working closely with a cohort aligned with that mission. The founder and director of MCiM, Kevin Schulman, Stanford professor of medicine and economics, built the first US clinical informatics management program at Duke University in 2011.

MCiM directly addresses the health care and public health challenges of our time. MCiM students will learn to develop and apply business models, clinical informatics tools, and ethics insights. They will acquire the skills and knowledge to successfully design, implement, and manage digital innovations in health systems, life sciences businesses, health care-focused technology organizations, or start-ups. Because this is a management program with a combined focus on technology and health care, MCiM differs from other management degree programs. 

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The business and technology competencies you gain are highly relevant and immediately applicable, making MCiM an excellent pathway to strengthen career options, pivot to new roles, and move into leadership positions - from Data Architect and Physician Informatics Director to CMIO and CIO. MCiM students will acquire the management skills to lead multidisciplinary teams in data analytics and data science, medicine, and business and to strategically optimize the promise of digital technology. They will be in a strong position to advance their careers in clinical medicine, health system leadership, healthcare consulting, bioinformatics, data analysis, and entrepreneurship.

COVID-19 has reinforced the longstanding need for leaders who expertly navigate medicine, business, and technology to drive the digital transformation of a $4.0 trillion health care system. Telemedicine for routine clinical care, digital radiology for rapid diagnoses, and machine learning to screen for potential COVID-19-related therapies are only some of the applications the pandemic has highlighted. Other opportunities include remote health monitoring, wearable sensors for tracking patients, students, and the workforce, and interactive voice-response tools such as Alexa, Siri, and Hey Google. MCiM will develop the managers and senior leaders prepared to expertly integrate these and other novel technologies into the clinical business in entirely new ways – with the goal of raising the quality and efficiency of care delivery in the months and years ahead. 

MCiM students will join a community of proven leaders and emerging leaders working in settings ranging from start-ups to health systems in the Bay Area and beyond. This accomplished cohort, coupled with MCiM’s acclaimed faculty and career-support services from the BioSci Career Center, represents a valuable professional network across medicine, business, technology and other complementary areas of expertise that can be tapped and cultivated well beyond the program’s duration. MCiM students will also bring with them a variety of experiences that will add to a rich, career-transforming learning experience, a reflection of Stanford’s commitment to developing a cadre of health professionals with a commitment to inclusivity and greater diversity in leadership roles.

Graduates of the MCiM have been deemed eligible to apply for board certification in Clinical Informatics through the American Board of Preventative Medicine. To date, all MCiM graduates who applied have earned their certification in Clinical Informatics.