Vanderbilt’s Health Care MBA Program provides students with opportunities to learn from and collaborate with researchers and innovators at the cutting edge of health care and biotechnology. Representing a combination of distinguished academic researchers, leading health care practitioners and business leaders, Owen faculty work closely with students to address this rapidly growing industry from strategic, economic, ethical and operational perspectives. These snapshots offer a glimpse into the program’s renowned faculty:
Michael Burcham, MBA
Adjunct Professor of Management
President, ParadigmHealth
Burcham is president of ParadigmHealth, a specialty care and disease management firm based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Burcham provides strategic consulting to a variety of health care firms and venture funds involved in health care start-ups. He has authored numerous publications and is a frequent national speaker on health care strategy and entrepreneurial thinking in health care.
Bruce Cooil, PhD
Associate Professor of Management
In collaboration with leading scientists and medical practitioners, Cooil laid the statistical foundation for a groundbreaking method of diagnosing and tracking the treatment of arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD), the single greatest cause of morbidity in the U.S. This method, called electron beam tomography, is helping to reduce CHD-related deaths and the costs of diagnostic procedures and treatments.
The Honorable Jim Cooper
Adjunct Professor of Management
Congressman for Tennessee’s 5th District
Cooper is serving his second term as U.S. Representative for the 5th District, although his prior service in Congress gives him eight terms of experience. Cooper authored the foreword to Financial Report of the United States: The Official Annual White House Report, in which he suggests that the U.S. government should be held to the same accounting standards required of private companies.
David Dilts, PhD
Professor of Management
An esteemed researcher in the areas of technology, engineering and operations, Dilts has investigated how manufacturing principles can be applied to health care to improve performance and cost efficiency. His research studies the impact of how information obtained by cancer patients from various sources impacts their treatment decisions, and a breakthrough analysis of barriers to clinical trials for new oncology drugs, with the goal of streamlining the administrative process and getting experimental treatments into clinical trials faster.
Roberta Goodman, MBA
Adjunct Professor of Management
Principal, Health Care Analytics LLC
Goodman, a well-respected health care analyst, brings more than 20 years of experience as a financial analyst, investment banker and health care consultant to the Health Care MBA program. A perennial favorite on lists of top analysts in financial publications including the Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor, Goodman is a principal with Nashville-based Health Care Analytics, a strategic consulting firm specializing in the health care services industry.
Nancy Lea Hyer, PhD
Associate Professor of Management
Hyer has conducted a multi-year study – in partnership with Vanderbilt University Medical Center – on how the principles of cellular manufacturing can be applied in a trauma unit to eliminate downtime, increase productivity and bring cost-efficiency. Hyer has also conducted a mission and culture assessment for a major medical institution to determine the degree to which employees are aligned with the stated mission in their patient interactions.
Harry Jacobson, MD
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Vanderbilt University
As CEO of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Jacobson imparts to Owen students unique insights related to running one of the nation’s premier medical treatment and research institutions. Recently elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine, Dr. Jacobson currently chairs the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation. Dr. Jacobson is an accomplished entrepreneur who has started many health-related companies, including Renal Care Group, now Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s leader in dialysis services and products.
Paul H. Keckley, PhD
Executive Director, Deloitte Center For Health Solutions
Keckley is a health economist and policy expert with substantial experience in applications of evidence-based medicine. As executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, Keckley joins a distinguished roster of health care leaders, including Tommy G. Thompson, independent chairman, and John Glaser, senior advisor. Created in 2005, the Center’s mission is to develop solutions to our nation’s most pressing health care and public health-related challenges. Keckley has written books and articles and is a frequent speaker for national health care organizations and the national media.
Jon Lehman, MBA
Associate Dean of Students
Associate Dean for Health Care
Lehman serves as Associate Dean of Students, responsible for admissions, student life and career placement, in addition to his role as Associate Dean for Health Care, with responsibility for the health care management programs. An entrepreneur and private investor focusing on health care, technology and education-related companies, Lehman previously served as president and CEO of Evolved Digital Systems, a leading provider of digital-based image and information management systems for the health care industry. He has held numerous corporate positions in industry and has an MBA degree with Distinction from Harvard Business School.
Bruce Lynskey, MBA
Clinical Professor of Management
Lynskey is a successful entrepreneur, offering Owen students extensive real-world knowledge about the art and science of launching a new venture. Each year, he supervises more than 50 student-staffed strategy projects throughout the country, including early-stage ventures in the oncology pharmaceutical and nanotechnology markets. In addition, Lynskey serves as a strategic advisor for the development and launch of several ventures by Owen students and graduates.
Richard W. Oliver, PhD
CEO of American Learning Solutions (ALS), American Graduate School of Management (AGSM)
Oliver co-founded ALS and AGSM in 2001 with U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and J.B. Wyatt, Chancellor Emeritus, Vanderbilt University. He is also Adjunct Professor of Management, Johnson School of Management, Cornell University. He is on the Board of Directors of SymmetriCom, Inc., Applied Innovation, Inc. and Quality Industries.
David Owens, PhD
Clinical Professor of Management
Owens teaches courses in leadership, workteam management, organization design, strategic innovation and product design. Owens also delivers executive education programs and consulting services to a range of clients around the world. Client engagements include NASA, LEGO, Gibson Guitars, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sygen International, Alcatel, Tetra Pak and Baptist Hospital. Owens’ research into strategic innovation and product development has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Guardian and NPR’s Marketplace.
Gregg Tarquinio, PhD, MBA, CPA
Vice Chair for Finance and Administration, Vanderbilt Department of Medicine
Tarquinio not only shares his expertise with students, but also has responsibility for Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s revenue and expense financial management and management of extramural research and teaching funds. In 1999, he assumed a projected operational deficit and turned it into a profit of $1.6 million.
Larry Van Horn, PhD
Associate Professor of Management
Faculty Director for Health Care Programs
Van Horn is a leading expert and researcher on health care management and economics. His research on health care organizations, managerial incentives in nonprofit hospitals and the conduct of managed care firms has appeared in such leading publications as Journal of Health Economics, The Journal of Law and Economics, Medical Care and Harvard Business Review.
Bart Victor, PhD
Cal Turner Professor of Moral Leadership
Victor encourages and guides students to consider the ethical consequences inherent in any health care or biotech enterprise, and oversees the Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions, dedicated to the discussion and promotion of moral values relevant to the professional schools, including the Law, Divinity, Medical and Nursing Schools. In addition, he is chairman of the board of BH1, a non-profit entity that operates two specialty hospitals and a temporary nurse staffing agency, and has consulted for several leading health care institutions nationwide on a variety of ethics-related issues.
Timothy Vogus, PhD
Assistant Professor of Management
An expert in the area of human organizational behavior, Vogus has closely analyzed human resource practices and their impact on hospital nursing unit effectiveness. Looking at 1,500 nurses on 137 units in 11 different hospitals, he scrutinized how workers are selected, managed, trained and evaluated, and how they can work as a collective to refine practices that will lead to higher performance and fewer medical errors.
