Scholarship Spotlight: Mariana Vanegas Ramos

I am an Industrial Engineer with seven years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having worked at companies such as Sanofi, Novartis, Baxter, and Eurofarma. Throughout my career, I have led strategic innovation projects, new product launches, portfolio management and market expansion initiatives across Latin America. These roles have given me a strong foundation in designing access strategies, adapting business models to diverse health systems and driving sustainable growth within highly regulated and competitive environments.

I chose the MBA Health at UCL because it offers a unique combination of strategic business training and a deep focus on the health sector, which is directly aligned with my career path. Unlike traditional MBAs, this programme provides the tools to lead transformation specifically within the healthcare sector, combining academic excellence with real-world application. What I value most is its practical approach, which allow students to work directly with health system stakeholders and industry partners on real access and sustainability challenges.

Receiving this scholarship taught me that it is valid to dream big. For a long time, I believed that studying at one of the best universities in the world was out of reach due to financial limitations. This scholarship is also a vote of confidence in my capabilities and in the impact I can generate after completing the programme. This support empowers me to continue my mission of helping shape more efficient and inclusive health systems, particularly in Latin America. It also carries a sense of responsibility: to represent those who, like me, come from regions where access to world-class education is not always a given, and to turn this opportunity into tangible change for healthcare systems and communities.

In the short term, my goal is to take a strategic leadership role within a global pharmaceutical company or hospitals, leading health innovation strategies for emerging markets. In the long term, I aspire to create cross-sector partnerships that improve access to high-quality healthcare in Latin America, leveraging technology, data and collaborative models to strengthen health systems and ensure sustainability.