NEOMED, UA to Offer Dual Pharmacy, MBA Degrees

ROOTSTOWN, Ohio – Northeast Ohio Medical University and the University of Akron have announced a partnership allowing students in the medical university’s College of Pharmacy to enroll in Akron’s MBA program.

The agreement allows students in the pharmaceutical doctorate program at NEOMED to take business courses at Akron, earning a master’s in business administration as well.

“The emphasis on cost control and effectiveness in health care has resulted in the need for professionals who also understand business fundamentals related to finance, operations, analytics and strategic decision-making,” said Ravi Krovi, dean of Akron’s College of Business, in a statement. “Working together with the faculty in the pharmacy college, we have been able to develop a program that interleaves our MBA courses with the pharmacy courses so that the [pharmacy] students will be able to apply appropriate business learning throughout their program.”

The MBA program requires between 36 and 48 credit hours, noted Dr. Charles Taylor, dean of the pharmacy program at NEOMED, and as many as 19 course credits from the medical university are transferable toward the MBA.

“Students must be accepted into both programs, and while the dual program is rigorous, the articulation agreement enables the two unique programs to align well,” he said in a statement.

The agreement is the third between the two universities. Previously, they partnered on the creation of a “preprofessional pharmacy studies pathway” for Akron students looking to apply to NEOMED and a “pre-med pathway” for graduate students at the University of Akron to enroll in NEOMED’s College of Medicine.

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