Interview With Patrick

Hi. My name is Patrick and I am a trained medical practitioner. I worked as a surgeon and also worked as Chief Medical Officer at various hospitals in Belgium. I am fascinated by Healthcare and innovation and hence, I am currently working as a Mentor-in-Residence at IMEC, a world-leading RD and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technology.

When I switched over from being to a surgeon to Chief Medical Officer, I moved away from a purely medical role to a role that required leadership and responsibilities. This introduction to the management side of the healthcare industry was more in line with my career aspirations. Having spent a considerable amount of time in that role I began to see a lot of potential for growth and diversification in the healthcare sector. I decided to become an entrepreneur and commit myself to research and development in the use of Artificial Intelligence in the healthcare sector. Today, I am working in an incubator as a researcher and our projects aim at developing the use of AI in modern medicine.

I had been warned by many of my friends that I would find the GMAT very tough. However, I got a lot of support from MBA Center which was very helpful for me and I found the GMAT quite easy even considering the fact that I was not someone who was fresh out of my studies. Even the application process was quite easy for me as I had a great coach from the MBA Center guiding me through the process. The most difficult part for me, instead, was choosing the right college for my studies. In the initial days, when I went to visit the MBA Center, I had decided to apply to Vlerick Business school, one of the most reputable universities in Belgium. However, after an enlightening conversation with MBA Center experts, I realized that with my background and years of experience I could easily get into better schools abroad. With persistence and hard work, I got accepted to the London School of Economics and IMD. Then came the most difficult challenge of all, making a choice between the two financial schools. I decided to go for IMD for the simple reason that IMD probably has more experience in executive education regarding people my age and who want to begin a new career at 40 than LSE.

Each of the students of an Executive MBA program is at least 35 years of age with over 10 years of business experience in their respective fields. The classes are also put together through a selection process to ensure a truly global and diverse group of peers. As such the classes are richly stimulating and enlivening. The traditional classroom experience is further enriched by the multiple real-life experiences as shared by the members of the class. All in all, classes are rigorous yet mentally stimulating.

The best piece of advice I could give to people applying to MBAs, both regular and executive is this: conduct thorough research. Find the school that corresponds to your project. You can get great names like INSEAD and Chicago popping up when you sit down to make the research, but they might not turn out to be the best for you. Do not get biased with rankings.

Another advice I have is always working with professionals. They understand the colleges far better than you will. In this regard, I can only recommend the services of the MBA Center as they have been invaluable in helping me find the perfect school for my studies.