Healthcare Initiative | Contractor Program in Healthcare

The Contractor Program in Healthcare: Open to all Stern students (undergraduate and graduate), the program aims to promote Stern’s thought leadership in healthcare, increase access to industry leaders, and educate students on emerging market trends. Upcoming activities include an industry conference, corporate treks to healthcare companies, and support for seminars showcasing Stern’s academic research. No application is required.

The NYU Stern Healthcare Initiative kicked off the semester with a launch event on February 12, 2025. The event brought together students, faculty, alumni, and industry partners to celebrate Stern’s Healthcare Initiative and introduce the Contractor Program in Healthcare and Contractor Fellows, made possible by the generous support of Ashish Contractor (BS ’97) and Amy Lung Contractor (BS ’00).

On April 17, 2025, the Stern Healthcare Association hosted its annual healthcare conference, centered on the theme “From Capital to Code: Building the Future of Healthcare.” The event brought students together for a day of conversations exploring how innovation, investment, and strategy are reshaping the healthcare landscape. The conference began with a keynote from Dr. Marschall Runge, former CEO of Michigan Medicine, who reflected on managing care in a rapidly evolving technological environment, what changes may lie ahead, and the ways technology can serve as both an opportunity and a challenge for the industry.

Following the keynote, students had the option to choose between two panel discussions tailored to different sectors of the healthcare ecosystem. The Finance, Investment Banking, and Private Equity panel examined market trends, policy shifts influencing investment decisions, and practical advice for breaking into the field. Meanwhile, the Startups, Technology, and Venture Capital panel focused on the innovations generating both excitement and concern, the realities of adopting new technologies in healthcare, and the growing presence of major AI companies entering the space. For the final panel, we welcomed alumni to discuss the diverse career paths available across healthcare, sharing both their perspectives from their time as students and the insights they have gained as professionals established in their respective fields.

The conference concluded with a networking happy hour, where students, alumni, and guests had the opportunity to continue the conversation and build new connections.

On April 23, NYU Stern MBAs ventured behind the scenes at one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies to explore how industry leaders navigate the intersection of commercial strategy, legal compliance, digital transformation, and oncology innovation.

Students were hosted at Pfizer’s NYC headquarters for a panel featuring our NYU alumni: Jonathan Koo (MBA ’18), Director, Vaccines, U.S. Commercial; Anthony Lambrou (MBA ’10), Sr. Director, Digital & Technology; Marina Pearlman (NYU BS, JD), Chief Commercial Counsel, Oncology; and Nicole Sorine (MBA ’23), Director, Oncology, U.S. Commercial.

The conversation spanned both the personal and the industry-wide: from what it actually takes to build a pharma career—where emotional intelligence, storytelling, and direct relationships with hiring managers ranked surprisingly high—to the macro forces reshaping the sector. Attendees gained insights into the current administration’s impact on vaccine policy, the accelerating shift toward precision oncology, AI’s expanding role as both a commercial and operational tool, and Pfizer’s strategic vision for its next chapter.

Students also got a tour of Pfizer’s Helix Gallery, seeing the scale of the company’s scientific history.

On May 1, 2025, we hosted the 4th Annual NYC Health Economics Day Workshop at NYU Wagner, and it was a stimulating day of research and exchange. Nearly 70 students and faculty joined us from universities stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C., for five thought-provoking presentations. The topics included Medicaid drug policy, the role of brokers in health insurance markets, the optimal timing of nursing home inspections, the effect of hospice care on health spending and patient well-being, and the spillover effects of dementia on family members. The discussions were lively and substantive throughout the day, and the event wrapped up with an informal happy hour that gave attendees a chance to continue conversations and forge new connections.

We are grateful to our sponsors, including NYU Stern’s Contractor Program in Healthcare, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, NYU Langone Health’s Department of Population Health, and Weill Cornell Medical College, whose generous support made the event possible. We are excited to host the 5th Annual NYC Health Economics Day next spring!