Learn the business side of life sciences.
In conjunction with the Center for the Business of Life Sciences, this graduate-level program allows working professionals to:
Watch the video to learn about how the ECBLS can give you an edge in your life sciences and healthcare career by improving your understanding of the industry and building your network.
Life sciences is an evolving industry.
Are you keeping up?
Courses are on a pass/fail basis, but letter grades are available upon request. Credits earned in the ECBLS program can be applied toward a Kelley Executive Education Programs Online MBA or Online MS in Strategic Management or the Kelley Evening MBA.
The Kelley Executive Certificate courses are delivered in a unique blended format which uses both in-residence and online learning modes. The program begins with a combined six-day in-residence course and program orientation. Students form teams, meet the faculty, and receive a tutorial on the Kelley Direct online system. Four online courses follow. The program concludes with a two-day capstone experience. Student teams demonstrate the skills learned in a case analysis to the ECBLS faculty.
The following five courses compose the Executive Certificate in the Business of Life Sciences. Students take these courses sequentially:
The certificate program concludes with a capstone experience (two days in-residence) as student teams demonstrate the skills learned in a case analysis to the ECBLS faculty.
Faculty: Dr. Katherine Ryan, Co-Director of Communication, Profesional, and Computer Skills, Senior Faculty Lecturer
This graduate course presents principles, challenges, and strategies associated with effective organizational leadership and the management of organizational change initiatives in dynamic work environments. You will explore issues such as strategic decision-making, collaboration, employee engagement, motivation, and change management, using both deductive and inductive learning.
At the conclusion of this course you will be able to:
For a detailed syllabus, please contact Dr. Katherine Ryan with your request.
Faculty: George Telthorst, Senior Lecturer; Director, Center for the Business of Life Sciences; Director, Life Sciences Academy Plus
This course will present an overview of the economic foundations of the life sciences and healthcare value chain. In this course we will explain the idea of a business value chain with attention to underlying economic principles, and then apply those concepts to a specific segment of the life sciences or healthcare industries. It is designed to provide graduate students from a variety of business and non-business backgrounds with a solid introduction to the economic foundations of life sciences, with a special emphasis on healthcare. This course is intended to serve as a starting point for students to develop an inter-disciplinary discussion between business, life sciences and healthcare services industries.
After completing this course, students working as individuals and in teams will be able to:
For a detailed syllabus, please contact Professor George Telthorst with your request.
Faculty: Christopher Cook, CPA, CGMA, Senior Lecturer of Accounting
This is a graduate-level course in general accounting theory and practice, with an emphasis on accounting issues and practices pertinent to life sciences companies. As a vehicle for student learning, many problems and real-world scenarios are incorporated to replicate business decision-making situations commonly encountered in (and by) life sciences companies. A special life sciences focus includes accounting for research and development expenses, revenue recognition, leases, and product costing in complex manufacturing environments. The course will contain a mix of computational and conceptual problems. Students who have never had an accounting course are encouraged to take the accounting primer so they are familiar with the basic concepts and terminology used in accounting.
For a detailed syllabus, please contact Professor Christopher Cook with your request.
Faculty: Michael Oakes, Senior Lecturer in Finance
How do pharmaceutical firms like Merck decide which projects to fund? What sources of capital can a biotech firm tap? How do investors value such firms? How does Zimmer Biomet measure the financial viability of a new medical device?
Finance offers an analytical framework with which to analyze such issues, and this course is designed to help you learn and apply a set of key tools that fall out of that framework. The fundamental idea at work is one of value: valuing firm assets and activities, valuing alternative financial management decisions, and valuing the investments made by suppliers of firm capital—the shareholders.
Upon completing this course successfully, a student will be able to:
For a detailed syllabus, please contact Professor Michael Oakes with your request.
Faculty: Joshua Gildea, Director, MBA Business Marketing (B2B) Academy,
Fettig/Whirlpool Distinguished Lecturer, Department of Marketing
Classical marketing involves the identification and satisfaction of customers’ needs, wants, and desires through a process of exchange that creates value for both the marketer and the customer. Identification of needs, wants, and desires is typically achieved through some form of research. Satisfaction is achieved by a firm offering the customer the right product/service, at the right price, at the right time, and made available through the right outlets—in short, using the right marketing mix. This sounds simple and intuitive, perhaps it is. However, although intuition has a role to play, marketing implementation is not that simple. Executing successful marketing plans involves a complex set of activities to master, requiring substantial knowledge, experience, and strategic thinking.
The preceding description of marketing is a rather “generic” definition. When it is applied to the industries of life sciences and health care, the marketing function becomes increasingly challenging. Given the complexity of the regulatory environment and the numerous variations of the life science value chain, marketers are faced with developing unique relationships with multiple customers, partners, influencers, and constituencies. Depending on the situation, these may include:
Through a rigorous combination of lectures, discussion forums, relevant literature, and business cases in the life science industry, this course will introduce students to concepts that are considered critical in understanding the marketing function and its responsibilities in this complex environment. It will also sensitize students to the difficult decisions and activities that marketers undertake in achieving success for their products, services, companies, and ultimately their customers and patients. Finally, it will allow students to practice problem-solving techniques in dissecting complex marketing issues through the use of business cases.
This course is designed with the assumption that students have had little, if any, formal instruction in the marketing discipline. During the early part of the course, students will gain exposure to the essentials of buyer behavior and customer analysis. This exposure will dovetail into an examination of the tools marketers rely on to fulfill customer expectations. These tools include segmentation, positioning, market research, product strategy, pricing, and distribution. We will discuss these tools in the context of current issues in the life sciences arena such as direct-to-consumer promotional strategies, e-commerce, channel relationships, and value pricing.
Admittedly, there is a great deal of synergy between the issues and analyses discussed in marketing and the management decision techniques that executives are exposed to in accounting, economics, finance, information systems, operations, quantitative methods, and strategy. When used appropriately, marketing is the function that often helps to integrate and cement all of these areas from a business planning perspective. This course content will complement the other core courses in this program to provide students with an integrative approach in solving business problems and implementing successful business strategy.
After completing this course, students should be able to:
For a detailed syllabus, please contact Professor Joshua Gildea with your request.
Students bring diverse life sciences experience to the program. While the majority hold technical roles in research and development, manufacturing, quality assurance, engineering and clinical/regulatory affairs, students have also come from IT, business development, marketing, medicine, human resources, and finance backgrounds. Four students have participated from offshore locations. Regardless of their background, the ECBLS program increases an individual's understanding of the business side of the life sciences.
To qualify for the ECBLS program, students must:
Individuals applying on their own behalf will need to confirm that they meet the criteria and provide suitable references during an interview with Executive Education staff following application to the program.
Companies who sponsor employees must confirm that the individual meets these criteria in a formal endorsement accompanying application to the program.
There are two ways to apply to the ECBLS program:
If you have any questions, call 812-855-0229.
The program costs $17,000 plus the cost of books and course materials (approximately $500) and lodging and travel for the two in-residence periods. Applications received by June 30 will qualify for a $1,000 early application tuition reduction.
There are two payment options:
Email us at keep@iu.edu to learn more about how the ECBLS program can boost your career.
