José Mitjavila, MD, MBA’19, discovered he wanted to be a doctor during his undergraduate studies at Indiana University, but it was during a clerkship rotation while at IU School of Medicine that he knew what kind of doctor. He chose family medicine thanks to the experience in a rural primary care clinic in northern Indiana.
“I loved it. Family medicine is a very intimate setting in which you get to work one-on-one with patients who maintain relationships with their family physician throughout their lives,” he said. “You see the whole spectrum of patients and disease types. I enjoy the process of working through diagnosis and connecting patients with other medical professionals to move their care forward.”
Alongside his love of biology and helping others, José always had an interest in economics and business. He “dabbled” in business courses during his undergraduate studies.
“I wanted to pursue my interest in business, but because I’d chosen to pursue medicine, I didn’t know how I could do both. It turns out I had a chance encounter at just the right time.”
During his third year of medical school, José ran into an old friend, Ruvi Chauhan, MD, MBA’18.
They discussed his curiosity about physicians who also had MBAs. Fortuitously, Ruvi was a student in the MD/MBA dual degree program offered through the Kelley School of Business Evening MBA Program in partnership with the IU School of Medicine. She encouraged José to apply with some urgency, as applications were due in two months.
“Immediately, I got in touch with my medical school advisors, and Ruvi connected me with advisors at the Kelley School,” he said. “I just happened to have a planned vacation month coming up, so I had time to study for the GMAT and consider the dual degree route. It was very serendipitous.”