For Lisa Yamamoto (MBA ’26), graduation day was not quite the finish line.
While she was working toward her MBA, Yamamoto was also balancing a demanding career as a physician at Cleveland Clinic and training in Olympic recurve archery. So on graduation day, she celebrated with her classmates—and then went straight to the airport to catch a flight to Colombia for the Pan American Championships.
The Pan American Championship is an international archery competition held every two years. For Yamamoto—a physician, mother, student, and relatively new competitive archer—simply earning a place at the event represented an extraordinary opportunity.
As the hours approached, Yamamoto knew the logistics of getting from graduation to the airport and the competition would be challenging. There was little room for error, and barely a minute to spare if she was going to make the flight.
But Yamamoto was committed to attending graduation to celebrate finishing the goal she’d been working toward for years
Goals and targets
Yamamoto’s path to the Carey MBA began when she was working as an inpatient hospitalist. The work was demanding, COVID-19 was making it more so, and many of her colleagues were considering transitions away from inpatient medicine and into administration.
Several suggested that an MBA could open that door, and that Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is the leader in the business of health.
“What I learned at Carey opened up a whole new world of opportunities,” Yamamoto said. “It also changed my perspective of the challenges of administration.”
The MBA gave her tools she could immediately apply to her work as a physician and medical director. But it also gave her something less tangible: confidence that she could take on challenges that once seemed impossible.
That confidence mattered when another unexpected pursuit entered her life.
Yamamoto took up Olympic recurve archery only a few years ago. She describes the sport as transformative, saying it helped her through an exceptionally difficult period and gave her a way to calm herself, reset, and recover from devastating losses.
“It was the thing that really calmed me down. Saved me. Helped me reboot,” she said.
Eventually, the physician who had discovered archery as a source of solace found herself ready to compete internationally.
The problem was the timing. Yamamoto didn’t see how she could attend graduation without missing her flight to Colombia, so she reached out to Executive Director of Student Affairs Dan Barnhart.
Barnhart moved Yamamoto’s name up in the graduation ceremony, enabling her to leave after she walked the stage and make her flight in time.
“If it had not been for Dan Barnhart, I would not have made the flight,” she said. “With his help and dedication, I was able to accomplish two dreams.”
Learning to aim at what comes next
Yamamoto’s ability to take on multiple demanding roles is not new.
When she attended medical school, she had a two-year-old daughter and little familial support. Now, as Yamamoto reflects on earning her MBA while working as a physician, raising a child, and training as a competitive athlete, she credits much of her ability to persevere to the same determination that carried her through medical school.
“Plus, very little sleep,” she joked.
For Yamamoto, the lessons of archery and business have begun to reinforce one another. Archery requires focus, repetition, visualization, and the ability to perform under pressure. Her business education has given her new ways to understand the systems and challenges surrounding healthcare.
Together, the experiences have expanded her vision of what she might contribute as a physician and medical leader.
Her MBA has already influenced the way she approaches her medical directorships, and she hopes to continue bringing the perspectives of medicine and business together to address complex challenges in healthcare.
Sharp points
Yamamoto has some words of wisdom for others pursuing a seemingly improbable goal while also juggling a demanding career or degree program.
“You will make mistakes, but each time, fail better,” she said. “Be as efficient as you can. Rely on your classmates and be a good teammate.”
Looking back, Yamamoto says the accomplishments that make her most proud are not necessarily the international competition or the MBA itself. They are more personal – being a good doctor and a good mom.
And perhaps that is what makes her story such a fitting reflection of the Carey community: achievement does not have to fit neatly into a single category. A Carey student can be a physician, a mother, a leader, and an international athlete. Students can discover new passions later in life, pursue their education while working demanding jobs, and discover that achieving one goal gives them the confidence to pursue others.
For Yamamoto, earning her MBA did more than add another credential to her career. It helped show her what else might be possible.
