Abhinav Shah
MHA

Dr. Abhinav Shah has long dreamed of running a hospital in his native India. He aims to found and operate a large, single-specialty hospital serving patients from around the world. That business model has a name: medical tourism.

In 2007 Abhinav graduated from a medical college in Ahmedabad. One of India’s largest cities, Ahmedabad is located in the state of Gujarat, which in 2006 adopted a formal policy to promote medical tourism as an industry. In the course of his studies, Abhinav had come to realize he could better manage the complex challenges a hospital presents if he possessed management skills too. Although Suffolk was thousands of miles away, he selected it for its outstanding graduate healthcare programs and Boston’s extraordinary healthcare resources.

Entering Suffolk in fall 2007, Abhinav proceeded to benefit from classroom instruction, mentoring, and internships that immersed him in the healthcare industry. For Massachusetts General Hospital he worked on a comprehensive project to improve pharmacy workflow, and as an administrative assistant in the Volunteer Service Department. For New England Eye Institute Commonwealth Clinic, he was a consulting project intern, defining goals for the clinic’s marketing strategy, designing a market research methodology to improve service use and patient volume, and developing a strategic marketing plan.

For Suffolk Healthcare Department’s Professor Richard H. Beinecke, who conducts pioneering research on global mental health issues, Abhinav studied mental health services in developing countries. Their article, “Global Mental Health Needs, Services, Barriers, and Challenges,” was published in the International Journal of Mental Health.

Abhinav co-founded and co-led Suffolk’s International Healthcare Students Group, which helps international students adapt to Suffolk and Boston and enables the Healthcare Department to better meet their needs. He hopes it will also promote exchanges between current international students and alumni like himself.

From left: Abhinav Shah; Richard Gregg, Operating Director, Suffolk Healthcare Department; Sailaja Vemuri; and Kinjall Parikh. This dinner inspired the creation of the International Healthcare Students Group.

In May 2009, with his Suffolk MHA degree in hand, Abhinav returned to Ahmedabad to join Shraddha Hospital, a small multi-specialty hospital with an Intensive Care Unit and Operation Theatre. As Executive, Medical and Marketing Operations, with clinical and management responsibilities, he’s translating his Suffolk education into practice.

In comparing his US and Indian experiences, he says, “the major difference is cultural – in the way people think. I’m using what I observed in US hospitals and learned at Suffolk to mold the hospital culture and make its management model more decentralized.” In marketing a new surgery department, he adds, “my Suffolk internships definitely help me.”

Posted August 2009