Spotlight On: Wendy Purcell, Visiting Professor for the UCL MBA Health

The UCL Global Business School for Health (GBSH) welcomes Dr Wendy Purcell as a visiting professor for the new MBA Health programme.

An academic research scholar with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Dr Purcell leads research on global leadership and governance for transformational change as well as research on a Culture of Health, pursuing health and equity in business and community settings. Her teaching relates to change agency with a focus on sustainability and sustainable development as the fuel for adaptive change across sectors. 

Dr Purcell also worked extensively at a strategic level with the NHS and was the founder and inaugural Chair of the UK Council for Healthcare Scientists, Member of Health Education England (HEE) Genomics Advisory Board and HEE’s Healthcare Science Implementation Network Group. 

An Emeritus Professor of Biomedicine, Dr Purcell was previously President Vice-Chancellor of Plymouth University from 2007 to 2015, where she established a new Medical School and a new Dental School. She also led the university to be among the top 1% of world universities and the first ‘green’ UK university.  

We spoke with Dr Purcell to find out more about herself and the new MBA Health:

Tell me more about your background - it would be great to get some insight into your career and education.

I started out with a degree in Biological Sciences and then pursued a PhD in Immunopharmacology. For my PhD, one of my supervisors was actually from UCL’s Department of Chemistry and my final PhD examiner was from their Department of Pharmacology. So, it’s almost like coming home, which is something I’ve done throughout my career. My degree was from Plymouth University to which I eventually returned to as Vice-Chancellor and my PhD was with UCL and Hertfordshire University, which I went back to as Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

My biomedical work was undertaken with the biotech and pharma sectors, and I’ve continued to operate in the space where health meets business – now focusing on transformational leadership. 

I got my first academic position in physiology and pharmacology and became the head of the division of physiology, pharmacology, and toxicology. I then headed up a Department in UWE, Bristol of Biological Sciences and became the Dean of Applied Sciences.

I used to have a sign in my office that said “Every now and then, every good leader needs a little lie-down.” Taking inspiration from that, I took a sabbatical after my presidency and came out to Harvard in the U.S. I was only supposed to be there for three months, six at the most; it has now been five and a half years! That’s what happens when you are having fun exploring health and business.

All throughout my career, I was developing a curiosity about leadership and change, starting with developing my own role as a leader, and then wanting to understand what makes effective leadership. From this, I’ve developed a lot of expertise around leadership, governance and management – especially focused on change and transformation. I have now applied that to address the challenges of sustainability and sustainable development goals. This is because we are all facing a range of problems from climate change to growing social inequities that will require new models of leadership to drive change at scale to ensure we create a world where no one is left behind.

While President Vice-Chancellor of Plymouth University, you “took it to the top 1% of world universities and the no.1 ‘green’ UK university.” What changes did you make to achieve this, and what more should business schools and universities be doing in this area?

I think the key thing is having a compelling sense of purpose – “What are we here for?” You really need to be able to answer that question. Having a compelling articulation of what is your “Why?” as an institution and how you connect people to that. Also, you need to be looking ahead and interpreting the future as it unfolds to make sure you adapt and prepare for it.

It was also important to recognise that it was a big change agenda and needed sensitive handling, with leadership that honoured the past and acted with compassion. 

When trying to get from ‘here’ to ‘there’, there needs to be a sense of urgency: a push and a pull. People need to feel excited about the opportunity ahead, be invited to that new future and be supported on getting there.

What brought you to becoming a visiting professor for UCL GBSH? Why are you excited to join as a visiting professor?

Nora Colton reached out and invited me to learn more about the school and what it was doing, and I am really excited about it! I lead a major research project at Harvard on the Culture of Health, which is how health and wellbeing and business connect. So, the idea of setting up a school that is designed for health through the lens of business is a real point of difference. 

Seeing recognition of such an important agenda, not just being an elective within an MBA or a programme with health in the title, but a bold disruptive statement that the world of health and business need to collide to serve the needs of the many is incredibly important. So, I was delighted to accept the invitation to be part of this exciting new journey with UCL.

Is having an MBA Health at UCL GBSH a game-changer for the sector? 

I do think the MBA Health is a game-changer. If you look at similar programmes, you find MBAs that have some kind of flavour of health or health management, but you don’t see anyone going beyond simply electives. 

With the MBA Health, from the very beginning, it fits all the MBA requirements, but the design principle is around health. This is what makes it different – it’s integrated into the DNA of the MBA. It provides the mindset and culture of bringing these fields together. Just taking an elective doesn’t give you the same level of intellectual integration. 

As a researcher involved in sustainable transformation in higher education and business, is this an area business education should focus on teaching students? 

People are already asking “What are the challenges facing business?” and “How do we transition from where we are to a more sustainable way of operating?”

The idea that you could somehow do anything in any sector, without recognising those major challenges around sustainable development; you just can’t. If you’re looking at health, you are already seeing the climate crisis show up in emergency rooms. It’s not happening in 50 years, it’s happening now; heatstroke, exacerbation of underlying morbidities, we saw it with COVID-19 that exposed major structural and societal issues and disparities around health. 

You can’t work in any business sector without recognising the need to mitigate or adapt to the risks the sustainable development goals represent, often shorthanded as the climate crisis, but it goes beyond that. It relates to social inequities, polarisations around income, disparities in technology access and so on. It’s about how we arrive at a space that’s more equitable and how we deal with the problems represented by sustainable development. Any business school thinking they’re doing the right thing or setting students up for success, without diving deep into the challenges around sustainability and sustainable development is wrong. You can’t have healthy people or a healthy society without a healthy economy on a healthy planet. 

We have seen that with COVID-19: a health crisis that effectively shut down most business sectors. They are not just interconnected; there are profound interdependencies between business and health. 

A lot of business schools aren’t doing enough in this space, but most are making some efforts to recognise risk adaptation and risk mitigation and how leaders can lead the change to affect a just transition. 

What MBA health modules will you be involved with as a visiting professor? What will these modules teach students and why are they important?

A couple of the modules I’m leading are ‘Leadership of Self and Change Agency’ and ‘Understanding Your Organisations, Culture, and Workforce.’ 

I am going to be focusing on leading change. One of the new programmes we are offering is called ‘Leading Change in Healthcare’. My part is to help students really understand that it’s you that shows up as the leader, so understanding yourself and the fact that you are the instrument of change. It’s not thinking about leaders in the hierarchy, but self-leadership – managing your emotional tone, understanding emotional intelligence, understanding that how you show up impacts how things get done and how those around your experience themselves. And I lead that into change agency and understanding organisations and how they work. I’m really focusing on leadership, governance, and management. 

I will be threading through the idea of transitioning in a just way and recognising broader global agendas that are experienced globally. I will show how global changes are impacting clients, patients, and organisations locally. 

COVID-19 travel restrictions permitting, I will be physically in the UK delivering this with the incredible team assembled by the Director. The plan is to do it in person and to have an immersive experience with the cohort, which I think is a distinctive feature of MBAs. Creating that safe space to learn and reflect together. 

What would you look for in an ideal candidate applying to the MBA Health?

I always look for people who have curiosity. Curiosity about how things work. 

I am also interested in those that are able to unlearn, those that recognise some things they are holding on to need to be challenged and tested. Those with a growth mindset, willing and open to new ideas and challenges. 

I think we will definitely be looking for people who have a sense of equity being a driver, interest in well-being, interest in systems and how they deliver for people, and they’re going to be interested in how leadership, governance, management enable these things to happen. 

What types of jobs do you envisage MBA Health graduates pursuing? And do you see a need for these graduates in the sector?

At the end of the day, they have an MBA, which will stand up against any global MBA and give you access to all sorts of careers. However, because we have this integration with health, I think that adds something hugely interesting.

There are lots of senior leadership positions where being able to understand both worlds at a deeper level - health and business - will open up opportunities. Of course, within public health systems, but also areas related to that: impact investing, financial systems, insurance, it could be all sorts of areas. 

There are also entrepreneurial activities, health innovation, device manufacturing, pharmaceutical sectors, and many other areas where business and health come together which are growth areas. I could see them sitting comfortably in some of these spaces as well as policy spaces.

I think the MBA Health sets you up to say “Where are my passions? Where am I going to have the greatest impact?” and you will be able to navigate your career in many ways. 

What contribution do you want to bring to the school and future students?

I bring my unique blend of expertise. Having worked in the U.S. for over five years in a very different system, and having worked in other countries too, I bring that more global perspective.

I understand very deeply, from working at Harvard, how to create learning communities, which is something I can bring in. I understand how to create cohorts that are mutually supportive and create these lifelong learning communities that continue to support the sector and impact change. 

And of course loads of enthusiasm for what is a really exciting space!