Where Management and the Medical Industry Meet

Archana Desai learns by doing. At the Carlson School, Desai did just that by enhancing her Full-Time MBA degree with the medical industry specialization—which offered hands-on experience valuating medical devices.

Desai’s experience at the Carlson School prepared her to hit the ground running when she landed a job at Medtronic after graduation. Through the Medical Industry Leadership Institute (MILI) Valuation Lab, she partnered with students from colleges across the University of Minnesota to perform market analyses for a variety of real-world medical technologies. These teams analyzed the clinical, financial, regulatory, and marketing landscape to determine whether new technologies stood a chance in the medical marketplace.

“In the Carlson MBA, you get your courses in strategy and finance, and you have excellent professors—and then it all comes together in the MILI Valuation Lab as you apply it to the healthcare industry,” she says. “It was a smooth transition from what I learned in the lab to what I do today.”