Incoming medical students and young physicians are increasingly looking to dual programs to earn a master’s in business administration or public health alongside their MD.
Here are 10 things to know about this growing trend:
1. According to a 2025 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges, 9% of medical students are pursuing dual degrees and medical schools have also reported an increase in enrollment.
2. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine reported about 16% of its students are in the dual program, and Los Angeles-based Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California found a 434% increase in the number of students pursuing dual MD-MPH degrees from 2010 to 2018.
3. The most common dual programs are MD-MPH, MD-PhD and MD-MBA. However, some schools offer dual degrees in medicine and health informatics, artificial intelligence, healthcare administration, mass communication, international administration and sciences like biomedicine.
4. Those pursuing business administration are often doing so out of desire to improve how healthcare systems operate, according to the report. Physician leaders have also told Becker’s that business skills are necessary for physicians looking to step into executive or leadership roles at healthcare organizations, but are rarely taught in traditional medical school environments.
“Getting an MD alone is practically worthless in today’s [leadership] environment,” Regis DeSilva, MD, a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston told Becker’s. “The reason for that is that it’s been taken over by MBAs and business people, and they don’t pay any attention to garden-variety MDs.”
5. According to 2022 data from consulting firm Mercer, 33% of CEOs of standalone hospitals have an MD, compared with 44% of teaching standalone hospitals. Additionally, 38% of CEOS of health systems have an MD, compared to 37% of teaching systems.
6. According to the AAMC report, some students pursue a second degree with hopes of getting their preferred residency match. However, a comparison between traditional and dual medical degree applicants found that the dual degrees do not appear to increase applicant match competitiveness.
7. Enough universities have expanded their dual degree programs that they formed the Medical Education Dual Degree Consortium. The consortium aims to create a summary of existing programs, study the impact of the dual degree programs and explore ways to better support students.
8. However, some argue that the lack of professional experience medical students bring to MBA programs results in them getting less out of those programs than other, non-dual program students. In a viewpoint piece published May 8 in Forbes, contributor Sachin Jain, MD, wrote that “the richest discussions in MBA classrooms draw from students’ real-world work experiences…Most medical students, through no fault of their own, arrive with limited exposure to the working world beyond academic settings.”
9. Dr. Jain also said in the article that the typical MD/MBA graduate enters a “rigid, hierarchical residency training program after business school,” where there is little space for them to test and apply the lessons they have learned in operations, strategy or finance.
10. Moreover, Dr. Jain writes, many MD/MBA students pause their clinical training midstream to pursue their MBA, creating a disruption to clinical development that “can hinder their confidence and competence upon return.”
