Student Driven Initiative to Explore Health care in Philadelphia

Anna Cottone Candidate for MBA 2017When I arrived on campus in late summer 2015, I had an endless stream of questions that I did not hesitate to direct to anyone and everyone in my line of site. Luckily, there is no shortage of people willing to lend a hand at Fuqua. I learned this early on when I began to ask questions: Why isn’t there an existing Fuqua Week-in-Cities trip to my hometown of Philadelphia? Are my peers interested in exploring health care in a new city? Could I put together a trip?

I was only vaguely familiar with Week-in-Cities (WIC)* when I arrived at Fuqua, yet, I was still surprised to learn that a health care trip to Philadelphia was not on the list of planned trips. I was certain that my peers would be interested in exploring health care in the City of Brotherly Love. I was also pretty confident that Fuqua’s student-driven culture would encourage my ideas. In true Fuqua spirit, I teamed up with a classmate, Greg Ciccarelli, and received support from the Career Management Center.

We took a unique approach and planned a day trip in November: in the morning, we were visited by health care leaders; and in the afternoon, we visited health care organizations. The vision for the trip was to create an intimate setting for students to learn about perspectives in health care from high level individuals representing a diversity of organizations. We were fortunate to have been visited by a number of distinguished individuals:

  • a health economist, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
  • a surgeon spearheading innovative technologic initiatives at Thomas Jefferson Health
  • CEO of America’s earliest urban research park, Science Center
  • a senior health care administrator with one of the country’s premier health care systems, Penn Medicine
  • CEO of a new primary care joint venture, Tandigm Health
  • a health care entrepreneur
  • a community organizer who brings access to health care to the uninsured, Community Volunteers in Medicine
  • health care management consultants, Navigate and Vynamic
Touring the Pearlman Center

Touring the Pearlman Center

The trip was a success. We left with a deeper understanding of the health care industry and the business community in a city that has a lot to offer Fuquans. I left feeling that one of the greatest privileges we have as students is the time to explore. I hope that along with my peers, we keep planning new trips, taking initiative, and asking questions!


*Week-in-Cities (WIC) are trips planned by clubs to meet with companies in cities across the country. These trips, which take place during our Fall Break in October, end up being a key learning and networking opportunity for students who are still zeroing in on their internship and career interests. The trips are usually industry or functionally focused: banking; tech; consulting; marketing; and my personal favorite, health care.


What does the Philadelphia area have to offer Fuqua students?

Living/Culture Health Care
  • 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan areas
  • Known as the “City of Brotherly Love”
  • History – the U.S. capital before Washington, DC
  • Living – Attractive cost of living, compact center city area, friendly suburbs, easy to get to NYC and DC
  • Culture – Theater (Walnut St.), Art (Barnes Museum), Concerts (Mann Center, Kimmel Center, World Live Cafe)
  • Sports – professional (Eagles, Flyers, 76ers, Phillies) and college (Big 5 college basketball)
  • Food – Reading Terminal Market, Italian Market, Stephen Starr restaurants – competes with any big east coast city
  • Outdoors – Longwood Gardens, Valley Forge Park, Schuylkill River, Fairmount Park
  • Dominating health care industry known as “Meds and Eds”
  • Home to America’s oldest hospital and medical school – University of Pennsylvania founded in the 18th Century
  • One out of every six doctors in the U.S. is trained in Philly
  • Home to the oldest and largest urban research park in the U.S. (Science Center, founded in 1963)
  • Top Life Sciences companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Teva, Endo, Pfizer