IB Career Club of the month: Healthcare Club

Imperial College Business School supports a variety of student-led Business School Clubs that aim to bring together both MBA and MSc students with shared interests, values, career aspirations and backgrounds. There are currently 16 different Careers Clubs at the Business School spanning a wide range of interests. The Careers Clubs provide students opportunities to expand their network, gain valuable industry insights, and build links with employers.

Our fifth IB Career Club of the month is the Healthcare Club! Candidate Experience Manager Ollie Waite sat down with President, Harikrishnan Pushpamgadan to discuss the clubs activities and mission statement.

Ollie: It's great to have you as our fifth IB Career Club of the month! Healthcare and its importance in our lives is something we are all too familiar with in this post-pandemic world. So I'm very interested to hear about your club and what you do! Could you tell me what the aims and objectives of the club are?

Healthcare: The IB Healthcare Club’s mission is to provide professional opportunities for students with an interest in building a future career in healthcare. We aim to support Imperial College Business School students by connecting them with healthcare industry representatives, introducing different career options and helping them make informed decisions. We also cater to those who are simply passionate about healthcare and would want to find potential networks within the industry. Our specific objectives for the year were:

• Initiate and moderate events covering topics within the healthcare and life sciences industry (both in-person and online)
• Expand partnerships and collaborations with other clubs at Imperial, business schools within UK and Europe, and with external corporates
• Increase member involvement in the overall direction of our events
• Expand traditional career areas to cater to the diverse professional interest of our members
• Provide opportunities to channel expertise, network and learn about the industry and career opportunities

Ollie: They sound like very beneficial and ambitious objectives! I'm intrigued to hear how you achieved them. Could you tell us what activities and events you have run?

Healthcare: The events we ran were delivered with a focus across four major segments within healthcare – 1) Pharmaceuticals 2) Healthcare 3) Digital Health and 4) Healthcare NGOs. Some examples of what we created:

• Lunch n’Learn Series – Virtual event providing an easy way for companies, industry leaders, alumni and current students to engage and share knowledge during everyone’s lunch break.
• Discussion Panels – Multimodal panel discussions and seminars with global industry/academic experts and thought leaders to enrich members’ learning and engagement in the latest trends in the industry. Some examples of speakers include Dr. Jane Thomason, the co-founder of the British Blockchain & Frontier Technologies Association, Ioannis Psallidas, Global Clinical Head at Astra Zeneca, Handre Schmidt, Principal of Health & Life Sciences at Oliver Wyman, and Ainar Abdrakhamanov, CEO at Longevica.
• Healthcare Hackathon – One-day business competition in collaboration with participants from other business schools across Europe. The mission is to provide a platform for members to showcase and practice digital and creative thinking skills to solve problems in healthcare/ life sciences.
• Healthcare Conference – Flagship event in collaboration with other business schools across the UK, organised as a full-day event with industry leaders

Ollie: Very impressive, I like that you've got the four segments within healthcare covered. Who sits on the IB Healthcare Club committee to help make all of these things happen?

Healthcare: The IB Healthcare Club committee for 2021-22 was made up of:

• President - Harikrishnan Pushpamgadan (Full-Time MBA)
• Vice-President - Mariam Makhmutova (MSc International Health Management)
• Corporate Relations & Partnerships Advisor - Natalie Tang Wing Ki (MSc Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management)
• Event Coordinator - Jos Fei Tan (MSc International Health Management)
• Event Coordinator - Gaidig Secher (MSc International Health Management)
• Finance Director - Nick Ramos (MSc International Health Management)
• Branding & Marketing Director - Sriya Vemuru (MSc International Health Management)
• Social Media & Communications Director - Christina Christoforou (MSc International Health Management)

Ollie: It sounds like a very qualified committee, no surprise you've been able to create such great events together! If you had to pick one thing what would you say is your proudest achievement as a club?

Healthcare: The proudest achievement of the IB Healthcare Club has been organising and hosting the Healthcare Hackathon 2022. This event opened its doors to more than 70 challenge-driven individuals from 12 business schools across the UK and Europe. Co-organised by Imperial and LBS student clubs, the Healthcare Hackathon was a one-day business competition that allowed individuals who are passionate about healthcare to come together and solve real-world issues. This event laid the foundation for a strong collaboration between healthcare clubs across UK/ Europe business schools.

Participants were allocated into randomised groups, both online and in-person, and had around 3 hours to develop innovative solutions to promote healthy aging. 

Event Highlights:

1. The club managed to secure a £1000 prize fund for the winning groups and has been one of the biggest and most engaging events run by a student club this year

2. There were two masterclasses on Business Model Canvases and Pitching hosted by the Director of Imperial Enterprise Lab, Ben Mumby-Croft

3. Teams presented their pitches to the panel of judges which included professionals from some of the top consulting firms in the industry and innovative healthcare companies, including L.E.K. Consulting, Lantum, Amgen, McKinsey & Company, Longevica, Genpact, and BCG