The
Science
of
Business

FALGUNI SEN, Ph.D.

B.A. Van Sise

The
Science
of
Business

FALGUNI SEN, Ph.D.

B.A. Van Sise

When Falguni Sen, Ph.D. graduated from the University of Delhi with a master’s in theoretical physics, he accepted a job at a leading atomic research center in Mumbai. But he only lasted three months.

“I realized that I was engaged in a project that was not related to peaceful uses,” he said. “I was so distraught by the secrecy.” Sen ultimately earned a doctorate in industrial engineering at Northwestern University, where he studied corporate management systems, courtesy of a grant from the Ford Foundation.

“My entire intellectual journey has been about the application of scientific knowledge to commercial enterprise so that it may have an impact on people,” he said, “hopefully a good and positive impact—not by creating weapons of mass destruction.”

A professor of strategy and statistics at the Gabelli School, Sen has devoted more than three decades to applying his knowledge of physics and engineering to business strategy and innovation. His research has focused primarily on healthcare, investigating management systems in research and development, public transparency of data in clinical trials, and innovations that could help to shape the future of healthcare delivery.

“I saw how much inequity existed in this country and in the world,” Sen said. “I wanted to work on creating systems that could help us achieve integrated, holistic, and patient-centric care made available to all who need it.”

To facilitate the management of healthcare innovations at the corporate level, Sen established the Global Healthcare Innovation Management Center at the Gabelli School. Over the years, he has convened leaders from different areas of healthcare to explore critical issues, such as patient-centric outcome measures and integrated care.

“To get these multiple views of something that’s real and happening in the world has always been my passion,” said the lifelong social activist, who, in 2019, volunteered to travel with ten Fordham colleagues to get a firsthand perspective on the experience of displaced migrants on both sides of the American–Mexican border.

The Master of Science in Health Administration is another of Sen’s many contributions to Fordham and one he considers most significant because of its relevance today. Created in 2017, the program combines resources from the Gabelli School, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and the Graduate School of Social Service to train mid-level healthcare employees to progress to leadership positions in the field.

Today Sen is analyzing how social media can impact healthcare by helping patients become more “medically literate” and, likewise, how the industry can better communicate complex medical diagnoses.

Born in Calcutta, Sen said his interest in healthcare advocacy was influenced in part by his parents, who were both doctors. His father was also an activist who provided healthcare to the underprivileged in a newly independent India.

“My work may be classified as the ‘science of business,’” he said. “That is, using scientific methods to understand why businesses do what they do. It may also be classified as the ‘business of science,’ or the use of science for a commercial end—an end with a purpose, such as human betterment. That is what drives my work on healthcare.”

—By Claire Curry