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IMAGE Smurfit Scholar Heather Cronin on how an MBA is setting her up for success in medicine and beyond
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A Consultant Cardiologist at Bon Secours Hospital Cork, Heather is interested in how an MBA will help her evolve with the future of delivering healthcare.
For the last 16 years, IMAGE Media has been proud to partner with UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School to offer one female candidate a 100% scholarship to join the Full-Time MBA or Executive MBA.
This year’s scholar is Heather Cronin, who is undertaking the Executive MBA. Currently a Consultant Cardiologist at Bon Secours Hospital Cork, she has worked in various roles since specialising in the field of cardiology.
“My area of interest in cardiology is inherited cardiac conditions,” Heather explains. “So basically, any inherited heart problems and genetic conditions. I do a lot of sports cardiology and preventative cardiology, so I do cardiac imaging and a lot of CT and MRI work.”
But what led her down the path of an MBA was an experience she had as part of a previous role. “Part of my role was to set up a community cardiac service,” she says, “and that involved a very different approach to my day-to-day clinical job. And I really saw that, to lead a healthcare team and to advance the service and to plan for future service provision, you need more than clinical expertise. It does require an intersection with business skills, with financial reporting, with organisational leadership skills. And that was an area that I felt I hadn’t got sufficient experience in. So I thought an MBA would be a perfect stepping stone to better that.”
When it came to considering where to apply, Heather says there was no question in her mind. “I never actually looked elsewhere. Smurfit was the one name, and that was the one place that I considered. I know other medics who have gone through the Smurfit MBA programme, and they have spoken so highly of it. It certainly had a big impact on me to be able to identify people who are working in a similar sphere to me who have used this in their own career.”
Having started the course, whilst still balancing her role in Cork has undoubtedly been challenging, but Heather notes how her classmates are an excellent support. “Everybody’s coming from really diverse backgrounds. It’s been really interesting, because these are not subject areas that I would have ever studied in depth, and that’s been really nice to spend time learning, both from the lecturers, but also from the class, different perspectives, and different ways of seeing things.”
I think the way healthcare will be delivered into the future in Ireland is changing hugely, and I think in order to lead effective services, it’s not enough to just have solid clinical skills.
Although much of what is on the MBA course is new to Heather, she has no doubt that the skills she learns will be invaluable in her career. “I think the way healthcare will be delivered into the future in Ireland is changing hugely, and I think in order to lead effective services, it’s not enough to just have solid clinical skills. I think you need organisational skills. You need strategic management. You need the ability to look outside of your own sphere as well. I need to be able to sit on an executive management board and understand the financial report data and understand the health economic side of it as well as, you know, just doing the clinical job. So I think it’s that broader organisational strategic planning, and having the management and leadership skills to support that.”
She doesn’t have any specific goals for what kinds of positions she might like to work towards at the moment, but knows that the MBA will open up a whole variety of opportunities for her. “Even in terms of our own cardiac division, trying to do business plans for, say, new equipment, new strategies for how you advance the service with imaging, I would foresee it having an impact on on my day to day work, but also then going forward, if in the future I chose to go into more senior management roles within healthcare.
“I think actually some of those options may not even be apparent at the moment, those may manifest later. That is one of the things that being in the class with such a diverse group has shown me, that there’s lots of opportunities, and there’s lots of avenues outside of what you would think would be the traditional roles as well. So that’s been interesting.”
Receiving this scholarship, Heather says, has made a huge difference to how she is able to approach the MBA. “It has facilitated me being able to drop back a small bit on work commitments,” she says, which is key when trying to balance the course alongside her career. “To have the backing of the scholarship was really immense. It’s given me a huge opportunity, and I’m incredibly grateful for it. To have joined the ranks of the other very inspiring women who have been awarded this over the previous few years, that was, a confidence boost as well, to follow in such footsteps.”
Applications for the next IMAGE x UCD Smurfit MBA Scholarship will re-open in January 2026.
At UCD Smurfit School, you’ll get more than a Business Masters or MBA. You’ll gain a transformative learning experience designed for your success. Start exploring your options at their Masters and MBA Virtual Open Evening on Wednesday, November 12 with programmes suitable for business and non-business graduates. Register at events.smurfitschool.ie.
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