MBA Health Roche Scholarship Student Spotlight: Thamina Anjuman

What made you choose to study at the UCL Global Business School for Health?

If I could tailor my own MBA, it would resemble the MBA Health programme at the UCL Global Business School for Health (GBSH). Here are three reasons why.

Firstly, it is the world’s first business school dedicated to health. Given my background as an epidemiologist, I wanted to contextual my learnings of the core pillars of business and leadership within healthcare. This in turn would enable me to practically apply this knowledge working within the health sector.

Secondly, the curriculum is an exciting combination of the traditional components of an MBA and modern topics in healthcare such as digital health transformation. This was important to me because while I value the theoretical foundations of business and leadership that have been cultivated over the years, I also wanted to learn how it can be applied within the context of the challenges faced by the healthcare system today.

Finally, the faculty include a broad range of expertise from academia to health-technology to pharmaceutical companies and CROs. I appreciate the diversity in thought leadership around innovation in healthcare. For that reason, I wanted to learn in an environment that provides a platform for different voices and experiences – something that has always been championed at UCL, a top-ten global university.

For these reasons and several more, I chose to study at the UCL GBSH and am delighted to have been accepted onto the MBA Health programme.

How does it feel to have been awarded the Roche scholarship?

Amazing! Women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds are disproportionately represented at the leadership level within healthcare (both in the private and public sector). The absence of such groups at the leadership level leads to the absence of their experiences in the design of healthcare management. This scholarship is a significant step towards diversifying thought leadership in the health sector and I’m very grateful to be the first recipient.  

How will the scholarship benefit your studies?

This scholarship will benefit me in the following ways: firstly, it will provide me with fees for the course allowing me to undertake the MBA Health now and make a difference sooner. Secondly, it will provide me with a stipend for expenses. Thirdly, it will provide me with funding to complete the ‘global health challenge’ module of the MBA which includes travelling to a low-or-middle income country for two weeks.

What are you most excited about with regards to the Roche scholarship?

I am most excited to work with my Roche mentor on the health consultancy project. Roche is one of the world’s largest and most successful biotech companies in the world. Through this mentorship, I look forward to learning more about how Roche work in partnership with the NHS, regulators and patients. This in turn will provide me with useful insight and experience in my future working with pharma.

What do you hope to do in the future once you have graduated from the MBA health?

As an epidemiologist I work with real-world data (data from GPs and hospitals) for the purpose of developing medicines. After the MBA Health programme, I would like to build on this experience at a strategic level working with both pharma and health-technology companies.

What advice would you give to students considering applying for a scholarship at the GBSH?

Don’t be afraid to voice where you come from.

Don’t be afraid to voice where you want to go.

Coming from humble beginnings does not need to dictate your future and the Roche scholarship is there to help level the playing field. Be honest in your application about what you want to do with your MBA no matter how ambitious it sounds – good luck!

We asked the MBA Health programme Lead; Julie Davies, why she believed Thamina was the best candidate for the shcolarship.

What made Thamina stand out as the Roche scholarship winner? 

Thamina grew up in east London and is a highly motivated candidate with a strong commitment to digital health, entrepreneurship and data driven decision-making. Thamina has been working in a biotech start up working on real world data. She collaborates across different teams and works with pharmaceutical clients about. All these experiences and her passion to make a difference in digital healthcare and prevention make Thamina an outstanding candidate for the MBA Health Roche scholarship.

What advice would you give students applying for GBSH scholarships for 2023 entry?

Apply early. Focus clearly on communicating how your story evidences the criteria stated in the scholarship application. Prepare and practise for the scholarship interview.

Learn more about the UCL MBA Health