Gaurang Daftary

Nurtured in Medicine, Shaped by Business

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

ABOUT GAURANG

Program: Carlson Executive MBA

Current position: Senior Director for Medical Affairs in Reproductive Endocrinology, Ferring Pharmaceuticals

Career experience: Served eight years as a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive endocrinologist at Mayo Clinic

Education: MD from Yale University School of Medicine

Most valuable aspect of Carlson MBA: “The cohort: Your learning is so much enhanced because of the presence of such brilliant minds in the room.”

What he’ll miss most: “I will miss this nurturing and wonderful atmosphere. I feel indebted to [the Carlson School]. It gave me what I wanted and even more.”

Best advice for business students: “Pick a great school. Make sure that you give everything to the program.”

As a Yale-trained second-generation physician, Gaurang Daftary doesn’t exactly fit the business school mold. In fact, his friends questioned whether an MBA was the right move. But this year, he graduates with a renewed purpose for his talents—and the skeptics have become believers.

“People have seen me transform over these past two years: I have a brand new script for the next part of my life,” he says.
 

Medicine needs leaders

So why would a medical doctor pursue an executive MBA? According to Daftary, society’s most urgent challenges compel doctors like him to adopt a new view of healthcare.

“Medicine is no longer a field that is practiced in an ivory tower,” he says. “I think MD, MBAs could bring a broad-minded view to deliver healthcare to society in a more effective manner.”

To maximize his impact, Daftary supplemented his medical expertise with business acumen: The Carlson Executive MBA Program deepened his knowledge of strategy, global business, leadership, and more.

“I was just so fascinated by every subject,” he says. “There's nothing better than the joy of learning and this program has certainly given me a lot to learn.”
 

The best minds in Minnesota

His classmates further enhanced the experience: Each cohort in the Carlson Executive MBA Program draws students from dozens of industry verticals who bring decades of expertise to the classroom. Each cohort starts and proceeds through the program together, enabling them to forge lasting connections with one another.

“I chose to come to Carlson because I knew that the best minds in the state—the ones that were on the trajectory to do something really big with their lives—would be in this one place,” he says. “The cohort challenged me to think bigger.”

Daftary has taken a leadership role in the North American division of a multinational pharma firm: He has joined Ferring Pharmaceuticals as senior director for medical affairs in reproductive endocrinology. The firm helps patients in the areas of reproductive health, urology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, and orthopedics.

“I'm far more confident in who I am and what I can do,” he says. “I feel like there's so much more of me to give to the world that I can't wait to share.”

I had done medicine, I had done science, I had been a teacher. I wanted to learn about myself, to see what my capabilities as an individual truly were.

Gaurang Daftary, ’17 CEMBA