David Prabhu’24 Receives 2023 MyQuestrom DEI Award And Elected Grad Council President

David Prabhu (Questrom’24), just received the 2023 MyQuestrom DEI Award in May for raising mental health awareness in the Questrom community through his efforts as the co-founder and president of the Christian Business Group. Just a few weeks prior, he was elected as Graduate Council President, making him the first ever part-time MBA student to hold this position. With a passion for healthcare, business, and biotech, David’s had a remarkable journey that took him from getting a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, to working at Philips as a Clinical Scientist, and now to Questrom as an MBA student and the top representative within the student body.

Following his time at CWRU, David looked to transition into industry, and upon recommendation from his pastor’s daughter, he decided to apply to Philips Healthcare. Although his initial intent was to stay in Cleveland, he ended up getting an offer to work at Philip’s Boston location. Although conflicted about leaving his main social circle in Cleveland, he was inspired by his parents who told him, “look, if we managed to survive moving from India to America when we barely knew anyone, you can survive moving from Ohio to Massachusetts.” David then decided to take the plunge, and moved to Boston at the end of 2019, becoming a Clinical Scientist within the world-class cardiology ultrasound division at Philips Healthcare, working to develop artificial intelligence solutions to help doctors acquire and interpret images of the heart.

Then came the start of 2020, a pivotal year, especially for David. “I was just getting to meet people and then the world shut down.” As an extreme extrovert, it was challenging. However, David began exploring ways to turn lemons into lemonade. He used the lockdown time to network virtually within Philips, and after talking to several C-Level employees, he found out that nearly all of them had their master’s in business administration. He then began looking up part-time MBA programs in the area, and learned that Boston University’s Questrom School of Business offered the top-rated part-time MBA program in the Boston area. Moreover, he was surprised to learn several people in his division were either Questrom alums, or currently pursuing an MBA at the school. He applied and got into the Health Sector MBA program at Questrom in 2021, along with being offered a scholarship from the school, and being offered tuition reimbursement from Philips, to help pay the cost of tuition.

David reflected on several classroom memories in Operations with Professor Jay Kim, Marketing with Professor Patricia Hambrick, and Economics with Professor Jay Zagorsky. Additionally, he also pointed out the “Nos” exercise in Professor Moshe Cohen’s negotiation class. The object is to get ten different people to tell you “no” in response to a request, with the goal of getting used to people telling you no within a negotiation. “It was so uncomfortable,” David says, “but, ironically, it really helped build your confidence, recognizing that you could experience someone telling you ‘no’ and still live to talk about it the next day.” Later on, David would harness this same confidence when campaigning for Graduate Council President later at the end of his 2nd year in the part-time MBA program.

During his 1^st year, and in the midst of Covid-19, David missed the church community he had in Cleveland, and observed an opportunity to develop such a community within campus. That’s what sparked the idea for the Christian Business Group  People told him that the gap in faith-based groups at Questrom was for a reason; there would be no appetite for it. But David also knew that folks were itching to leave their houses. Surprisingly, by the end of the first year of the Christian Business Group’s inception, almost 200 people had already signed up on their email list. The group welcomed both Christians and non-Christians alike to come together for networking events, and community service events with other MBA programs in the area, including Harvard Business School. However, it was the faith-based business studies that got the attention of Questrom faculty and Questrom’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

In particular, one event was called, “God Cares About Your Mental Health,” which discussed how 1/10 Americans are currently depressed, and how both faith and corporate entities can work to address the problem. The event also featured a representative from BU Behavioral Health Team, who notified attendees of the resources available within the school. Moreover, David also shared about his own mental health journey. “Two churches I was very involved with in Cleveland (Benevolent Love Ministries and The Word Church) emphasized mental health so much, that almost everyone involved with ministry, including myself, was interfacing with some type of counselor, and I discussed how it gave me an edge both at work and in the classroom.”  David added, “To my surprise, people were coming to me after the event and saying they were signing up for counseling as well.” This event would be one of the main reasons why David was awarded the 2023 MyQuestrom DEI Award this past May.

One of David’s favorite memories is when he took the Christian Business Group to Cornwall’s for Thirsty Thursday. Getting nervous about having a church event at a bar, David went to the bathroom to collect himself, and was surprise to find the musician for the event, Andy Edouard, doing the same thing. Alas, in spite of the nerves, the turnout was fantastic, and David ended up duetting with Andy later in the night.

Another unforgettable moment during David’s time as President of the Christian Business Group was their community service at Miracle Mile. The event was done in collaboration with Harvard Business School’s Christian Fellowship, and it took place just a few miles from Boston University’s Charles River Campus, near the intersection of Mass and Cass, also known as Recovery Road, where drug addicted people live in tents. “It’s eye opening that you’re literally only a few miles off of campus, and you can find yourself in a whole different world. It was important to see students from these top MBA programs at the event, so we could all learn that the influence we’ll all have as leaders one day can go beyond just making a profit; it’s about the power you have to impact change in the lives of our community as well,” David said.

David is making the most of every moment at Questrom as he looks forward to graduating in the spring of 2024. This past May, he made history as the first part-time MBA student at Questrom to be elected as Graduate Council President. He has dreams to support the diversification of the student body, expand networking and interactions with Questrom Alumni and other business schools in the area, and, most importantly, to help students graduate with multiple job offers through partnering with the FELD Center for Career & Alumni Engagement. David is also preparing to hold a networking event with MBA students form Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Northeastern, Babson, et al. which will take place in October.

To learn more, please visit David Prabhu’s LinkedIn. To learn more about Graduate Council, please visit the website here.