 Mark, President, Healthcare Decisions Group
UM SPH Degree: M.P.H. 1974, Health Management and Policy
Other Degrees: B.S., 1971, Dr.P.H., 1988
What are the rewards/challenges of starting your own business?
The ability to pursue topics of interest in a way that promotes continued professional and intellectual development over the course of one's career. On the other hand, if you start your own business nobody else pays your salary - you have to go out and make your living again every day, and marketing yourself and your business is a constant challenge. The key is ensuring that the benefits of starting your own business, in terms of flexibility and independence, are worth the costs.
What do you feel is The Michigan Difference?
The faculty's philosophy of public health education, imbedded in a University that values the individual. I learned a lot about collaboration, communication and how the intellectual underpinning of public health disciplines applies to real-world problems. Faculty members taught different approaches but shared a common set of concerns and objectives, and that gave meaning to the curriculum and provided a sense of purpose along with what I was learning. This gave me a passion for certain issues, providing professional and personal motivation as well as understanding. It has given me a focus for my career and a sense of what is worth doing
Thinking back about your Michigan experience, do you have any stories you could share
Shortly after I arrived in Ann Arbor I went to my first football game and realized there were more people in my section of the stadium than in the town I grew up in. But even with the scale of the university, it always seemed a very personal and warm place to me.
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