EDITOR’S NOTE: Sharmila Makhija, a Goizueta EMBA graduate, completed her degree while working at Emory University’s school of medicine. She spoke with Financial Times recently to discuss her Executive MBA experience and career. Click here for the full interview.
Dr. Sharmila Makhija studied for a medical degree in Alabama and worked as an assistant professor at Magee Women’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh. She has also worked at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Emory. She now serves as Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
In an interview with Financial Times, Makhija said she returned to business school while at Emory to get a better feel of management.
“During my tenure at UAB, I quickly realized that although physicians are trained to be compassionate and caring clinicians, we know very little about how to manage a team efficiently or build a realistic budget,” she told Financial Times. “So when I moved to Emory, as the director of the division of gynaecologic oncology and had to manage a team with various backgrounds and expertise, I decided to enrol in their EMBA program.”
She also provided advice for women in business.
“I believe we hold ourselves to a higher standard and are more critical of ourselves and other women,” she told the publication. “It is alright to make mistakes, as long as we learn from them. Most importantly, we need to help all of our junior colleagues, not only women but men too. I often tell my junior male colleagues that they need to be aware of what troubles women and to be more sensitive to certain issues.”
