John Barbadoro

“Teamwork is such a core aspect of the Questrom experience. I knew I would work in groups in business school, but I was so impressed by the experience of working with my classmates.”

As a Bates College politics major, John Barbadoro wrote an ambitious senior thesis focused on how global cooperation could result in disease eradication. As a Health Sector MBA + MPH student at BU, he continues to ask big questions in pursuit of tackling complex public health challenges. “I’ve always been fascinated by the business side of public health and healthcare,” says John, who is joining a life sciences alliance management consulting firm after graduation.

At Questrom, John has found a community that shares his passion for problem-solving. “There are definitely big insights in our classes,” says John. “The number one insight is nobody knows how to fix healthcare. But we look at policy and finance and economics, we learn how payers, providers and patients interact. How the money flow works. These are all crucial pieces of knowledge for improving healthcare.”

John put theory into action during an MBA marketing internship with Philips, the multinational conglomerate that has turned its attention to health technology in recent years. John worked in the direct-to-payer group at Philips Sleep and Respiratory Care. “We were working on novel solutions, such as how insurance companies can work on engaging patients earlier and using telemedicine to diagnose and treat sleep apnea. I liked the fact that even though it’s a huge corporation, I was part of a small team that had a start-up mentality. We were focused on how to drive value right away.”

That same emphasis on teamwork was the highlight of John’s experience at BU. “Teamwork is such a core aspect of the Questrom experience. I knew I would work in groups in business school, but I was so impressed by the experience of working with my classmates,” he explains. “In my Drugs, Devices, and Diagnostics  course, we broke up into teams and negotiated a simulated deal between a large pharma and a small biotech. We had to hammer out an agreement about revenue sharing and cost sharing. It will be super useful in my career.”

“I’VE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY THE BUSINESS SIDE OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE.”

– John Barbadoro