To Create a Medical School | Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA

May 14, 2025

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If you were asked to build a medical school from scratch, how would you do it? It's not a chance most of us get — but that was exactly the task given to our guest on this episode, Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA. Dr. Makhija is a gynecologic oncologist by training, a clinician who has spent her career working with patients through some of life's most vulnerable and uncertain moments. She has also served as chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Montefiore Health System in New York, and before that, at Emory University.

Most recently, and most notably, she is Founding Dean of the new Alice Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Arkansas. Here, she has taken on the ambitious and deeply human task of creating a medical school that doesn't just teach medicine, but reimagines its purpose. Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Makhija shares how her parents were instrumental to helping her find meaning in medicine, how she accompanies patients through serious illnesses, and the quiet but transformative power of presence. We then hear how she got the opportunity to create a new medical school — so new, in fact, that they are matriculating their first class in July 2025 — and her vision for preparing future doctors to face the technological, societal and professional uncertainties of medicine in the coming decades.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

2:45 - What drew Dr. Makhija to a career in medicine, and specifically to her clinical focus in gynecological oncology

11:10 - How Dr. Makhija learned how to support patients through some of the hardest moments of their lives, and her advice on guiding patients through a poor prognosis

25:22 - Dr. Makhija’s to becoming Founding Dean of the Alice Walton School of Medicine

32:00 - The school’s approach to creating a new medical curriculum

45:51 - Experiences that have surprised Dr. Makhija on her leadership journey

48:38 - How Dr. Makhija plans to equip her students to face the rapid changes that are transforming the medical field

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