Mehaque Kohli, MBA ’23, makes Poets and Quants’ “MBAs to Watch” list

Mehaque Kohli, MBA ’23, is among the MBAs to Watch for the Class of 2023 according to Poets & Quants. The online digest’s annual list spotlights accomplished and talented MBA graduates from the world’s most prestigious business schools.

Kohli, who is now an associate product manager with Abbott Vascular, chose Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s full-time MBA program to advance her career in the business of health. Kohli started her career as a corporate strategist with PricewaterhouseCoopers but was quickly drawn to her family’s business, Dr. Charu Kohli Clinics, a chain of medical diagnostic centers in India where she served as the company’s vice president for strategic initiatives.

“As the pandemic-induced lockdown started in India, I was unsettled by the apprehension in my community, which was being deprived of the health care they needed,” said Kohli. “I realized I wanted to be more involved in health care delivery and decided to transition into my family health care business.”

Kohli says Carey Business School was always her top choice for business education.

“When I was choosing a business school, I was very clear that I wanted to go to one with a strong health care focus. Johns Hopkins was on my radar from the start. As I researched the school more and spoke to current students and faculty, I realized there’s no better place to do health care than Hopkins. The entire ecosystem, from the alumni network to the cases discussed in class and even extra-curricular, you are immersed in health care,” she said.

Not only did Kohli herself like what she learned, but her mother, also a physician, advised her to go to Carey. “It’s kind of hard to not listen to your mom.”

Kohli was particularly drawn to Carey Business School’s Hexcite program, an early-stage medical software accelerator for entrepreneurs run in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Medicine Technology Innovation Center and Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures. While working with Hexcite, Kohli served as business lead for CurieDx, an AI-based diagnostic tool for strep bacteria, where she designed and executed a go-to-market strategy for the company. Kohli's team earned first place in the annual Hexcite Pitch Competition in 2022, and she continued to serve as a project mentor with Hexcite through graduation.

Passion beyond academics

Kohli is also passionate about supporting women and women’s causes. During her time at Carey, she led Women in Business, a student organization that creates nurturing, supportive, and uplifting experiences and environments for people who identify as women.

Kohli is most proud of her role in organizing and executing the group’s signature Stoop Storytelling event. Stoop Storytelling is a Baltimore-based live show and podcast that features ordinary people sharing extraordinary tales of their lives.

“For this year’s theme, I chose Balance: Stories About Crafting the Life You Want,” said Kohli. “Women must walk this tightrope between work, family, and taking care of themselves, and often find their priorities to be at odds with each other. This theme is very close to my heart, because of my cultural context. South Asian women, like their counterparts all over the world, carry much of the burden of managing family and household responsibilities.”

The future is bright for Kohli as she aims to enhance access to timely and affordable health care in resource-limited settings. In the next three to five years, she hopes to launch a health startup in India in the digital diagnostics space.

“I've met some of the most incredible professors and students at Carey Business School. The quality you receive and the amount that the school invests in its students is incredible. If you want to pursue health care, there's no better place than Johns Hopkins,” said Kohli.