There was a point when Gary Phillips didnt think he needed to graduate from Wharton.

A pre-med student at Penn in the 1980s, Phillips dropped the Wharton half of his College and Wharton dual degree in order to graduate in three years in 1987.

A year later, Phillips began studying medicine at the School of Medicine and was later presented another option: the chance to study in Wharton again, this time on an MBA track.

Phillips, still interested in business, saw the opportunity and took it. In 1991, he graduated from Wharton with an MBA. The following year, he received his M.D. from the Universitys medical school, graduating from Penns M.D./MBA program.

Today, Phillips is not a practicing doctor, although he keeps his license active. Instead, Phillips is the senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, where he is responsible for strategy, mergers, acquisitions and other financial matters.

Phillips admits that he doesnt need his M.D. to work in his current role. But for him, as with many other graduates of Penns M.D./MBA program, it was still a worthwhile pursuit.

I feel like Im good at what I do in part because of the M.D.

In a society where health care and business are becoming increasingly intertwined, recent research has demonstrated there are benefits to having both a business and a medical background. In a paper to be published in September 2014, researchers at Wharton and the Perelman School of Medicine have found that Penns M.D./MBA program had a positive effect on the careers of its alumni.

Having both an M.D. and an MBA allows you to wear multiple hats and see unique perspectives, and theres really a need for people with that kind of training, explained Mitesh Patel, an author of the paper who also graduated from the dual degree program.

With the health care reform debate emerging into the national spotlight notably with the changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act business is playing a larger role in the medical field.

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In a shifting healthcare landscape, two degrees may be better than one