Katherine Mathews will tell the story behind the creation of the Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics at Saint Louis University. She will then discuss the Center’s innovative curriculum for training medical students to be positive change agents and leaders within the complex US healthcare industry. Through this curriculum, students learn about financial drivers within healthcare where every dollar spent is someone else’s dollar of revenue or profit. Students also work in teams and use cases to practice foundational skills for professional development and ethical leadership.

With a background in public health, research, healthcare administration, and direct patient care, Katherine Jahnige Mathews, M.D., MPH, MBA, is a Saint Louis University School of Medicine professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health. She also serves as director of education for the Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics. In 2020 she launched an innovative required curriculum for first- and second-year medical students called Leadership and the Business of Medicine. This curriculum has been developed with and for students and is grounded in explicit reflection about the values that inform our actions and sense of right and wrong.