Biomedical Graduate Programs

Healthcare Leadership (MHL – online)

Preparing visionary and collaborative leaders who will transform health care organizations and improve the delivery of care to patients.

Health care is undergoing persistent, disruptive, and increasingly rapid change. In today’s complex environment, healthcare organizations need leadership that is dynamic, diverse, and reflective of the communities in which they operate, the organizations and patients they serve, and increasingly global impact on health. Leadership development is needed to help achieve this balance.

Program Overview

The Wake Forest online Master of Healthcare Leadership (MHL) degree program prepares leaders for the task of driving sustainable, quality transformations amidst inherent challenges in rapidly evolving health care environments.

Created by leaders at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, this program is focused on training in 4 key areas:

Business management
Health care landscape
Professional responsibility
Strategic leadership

Through structured training in these 4 core areas, the program allows you to develop the business acumen and leadership skills necessary to drive innovation and tailor solutions to current issues and future uncertainties within healthcare industries, supported by a diverse cohort of healthcare experts. The program goes beyond the approaches of traditional business administration programs (MBA, MHA) to emphasize a path that embeds the leadership training often missing from those traditional degrees.

Our Healthcare Leadership Master program is ideal for professionals who are looking to:

Shape the future of healthcare
Positively impact the health of society
Gain skills that translate to rapidly changing healthcare settings

Want to listen to our program director talk about some key features of the program? Consider watching a recorded 15-minute information session as our program director discusses his perspective on the curriculum, what it’s like to be an online learner in this program, the ideal applicants for the program, the personal statement, and the on-campus experience.

Outcomes

What, exactly, can you do with a Master of Healthcare Leadership degree from Wake Forest?

Graduates of this program are sought after by industry employers owing to the skills that they develop during their enrollment. Our graduates note that this program helped them:

Participate in and/or facilitate strategic thinking discussions & critically analyze internal and external conditions
Create a culture of care within their organization
Manage organizational change in implementing programs, strategy, and timely response to industry influences
Assess and lead innovative change regarding organizational functions in areas such as finance, marketing, IT, legal/regulatory, quality, and performance management
Leverage relational skills to draw on the extended network of peers and faculty to create transformational improvement of organizational and global health care outcomes

Our graduates are able to position themselves to secure a new career or advance their current career in a variety of industry sectors, including hospital systems, academic medical centers, insurers, non-profits, and other healthcare industry environments.

Regardless of setting, professionals with the ability lead in a health care setting are in high demand. As you earn your degree, you’ll prepare for a range of careers while exploring topics in finance and marketing, information technology, regulation, quality assurance, performance management, sustainability, population health and more.

Admissions

Our program invites applications from those currently serving as healthcare professionals (clinicians, executives, senior administrators, directors) from a variety of healthcare settings, including hospital systems, medical centers, insurers, non-profits, and other healthcare industry environments. In addition, successful applicants will possess at least 3 years of leadership experience.

Students will need to commit to a continuous, five academic term (20 month) online program with 3-day on-campus experiences during the 1st and 5th academic terms. The program highly values dialogue and discourse. Students should expect cohorts to hail from diverse healthcare backgrounds, with global representation. As such, cohort sizes will be limited to 40 students.

Curriculum

Understanding the capacity to manage organizational change, effectively implement programs, and develop sustainable strategy are all keys to a timely response to industry influences.

It takes executive and professional insight. As we head toward a more globally-centric and technology-based industry, the ability to explore a vision, articulate it soundly, and guide the implementation of vital principles into action are necessary for tomorrow’s leader.

Our curriculum was built to prepare you to become that leader.

Through our program, you’ll develop the specific organizational and decision-making skills needed to manage expectations and develop strategies that promote stability, sustainability, and contribute to the long-term success and advancement of health care.

Want to see the specifics about the Healthcare Leadership curriculum?

Learn More About The Program Curriculum

Leadership and Faculty

Led by Bret Nicks, MD, MHA, the program’s faculty have deep experience in various healthcare-related industries. Our faculty are fully engaged in addressing the gaps and constraints of the current U.S. health system.

Bret Anthony Nicks, MD

Professor, Emergency Medicine

Jennifer Houlihan, MS

Admission Chair, Master of Healthcare Leadership, Vice President,Value Based Care and Population Health, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

Amy Bell, DNP, RNC-OB, NEA-BC, CPHQ

Curriculum Chair, Master of Healthcare Leadership, Assistant Vice President, Performance Improvement, Atrium Health

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These degree programs are administered by Wake Forest University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and located on the Bowman Gray Campus alongside Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

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Research Focus Areas

Translation to Care

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Healthcare Leadership (MHL – online)

Program Overview

Outcomes

Admissions

Curriculum

Leadership and Faculty

Bret Anthony Nicks, MD

Jennifer Houlihan, MS

Amy Bell, DNP, RNC-OB, NEA-BC, CPHQ

More Resources