{"id":1800,"date":"2026-08-16T19:05:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T19:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.rotman.utoronto.ca\/newhma\/?page_id=1800"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:34:17","slug":"healthcare-industry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/inside.rotman.utoronto.ca\/hma\/healthcare-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare Sector"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Healthcare Sector<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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One Sector, Every Path<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Healthcare and life sciences make up one of the largest and fastest-changing parts of the economy, and one of the most varied. A Rotman MBA can take you into strategy consulting for hospitals, brand management at a pharmaceutical company, operations inside a health system, product at a digital health startup, or investing in biotech. This page is a map of those paths, so you can find the ones that fit you. None of them require a clinical background; they require business skills applied to a sector that matters.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Why Healthcare, Why Now<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tA sector bigger than you think\t\t\t\t<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Canada is projected to spend $399 billion on healthcare in 2025, or 12.7% of national GDP. In the US, healthcare spending reached $5.7 trillion in 2025, or 18.4% of GDP, up from 18.0% the year before, and that share is expected to keep climbing over the next decade. This isn't a niche industry to specialize into. It's one of the largest parts of the economy in both countries, and it needs the same range of business talent that any economy that size needs.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\tA people first business\t\t\t\t<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Every path on this page eventually connects back to a patient, a caregiver, or a community. Whatever function you're in (finance, ops, strategy, product), the work still touches people's lives. If you want a career where the outcomes are tangible and human, healthcare delivers that in a way few other industries do.
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There's no single \"healthcare job.\" The industry needs the same functions as any other, including finance, operations, marketing, technology, investing, and entrepreneurship, just applied to hospitals, therapies, insurers, and health tech instead of consumer goods or software. You can see that breadth right here in Toronto: the region is home to more than 1,400 life sciences companies and nearly 50 international pharma and biotech head offices. If you already know what kind of work you want to do, healthcare probably has a version of it, and a lot of it is being built down the street from Rotman.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\tHealthcare's AI Moment\t\t\t\t<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Healthcare has historically been more insulated from AI disruption than most industries. Patient privacy rules, regulatory approval timelines, and the sensitivity of clinical decisions have all slowed adoption: as of 2025, AI use in healthcare firms sat at roughly 8%, still behind sectors like finance (12%) and education (15%). That's changing fast. AI adoption in healthcare is now growing faster than almost anywhere else, even as it plays catch-up. That combination, real staying power today paired with a genuine wave of innovation just getting started, is part of what makes this such an interesting moment to build a career here.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

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A clinical or scientific background is an asset in healthcare, not a requirement. Business skills are what the sector is short on. Curiosity and a willingness to learn the domain will take you far.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pharmaceuticals & Biotech<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bringing therapies to market and managing them once they're there: pricing, positioning, market access, and the long relationship-building it takes to get a drug into the hands of the physicians and patients who need it. It's a business built on long timelines and high stakes, where a single product launch can take a decade of work and touch millions of lives.

Entry roles:<\/strong> brand\/product management, market access, commercial strategy, business development.

What matters:<\/strong>analytical rigour, communication, and an interest in science you don't have to be a scientist for.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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