Use design thinking in health care to take a Johns Hopkins technology to market

We lead the way in cutting-edge medical software that improves patient care. But an idea or technology alone won’t save lives. Johns Hopkins innovators need your business acumen to launch a startup and bring their health solutions from bench to bedside.

At the Hexcite early-stage medical software accelerator program, students from across Johns Hopkins match with care providers with an idea to create and market a software solution that improves patient care. Join a team of design and engineering students while working closely with Johns Hopkins Medicine clinical faculty and staff.

Become a leader in health technology innovation

Engage with new health technology software from every angle. Serve as the team’s project manager, provide business support (defining the business model and drive the marketing strategy), and create and lead team pitches and presentations. Develop new skills at workshops on software development, design thinking, customer interviews, and wireframing.

During weekly, expert-led sessions, navigate the first steps of business and technical design to maximize the technology’s growth and business generation. Following 16-weeks of inventive programming and mentorship, Hexcite teams are well positioned to build their technology in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Technology Innovation Center, conduct an internal pilot at Johns Hopkins, and launch a Baltimore start-up.

Outcomes

Business outcomes

• Co-founders and a business team
• 40+ interviews with prospective customers
• Polished pitch deck
• Prototype of your app
• Funding application started

Skill and resource outcomes

• New methods for problem-solving
• Network of entrepreneurs
• Support from the Johns Hopkins Technology Innovation center
• An understanding of the pathways to bring innovations to market at Johns Hopkins
• Potential for in-kind investment from the Johns Hopkins Technology Innovation Center after Hexcite concludes

Your 16 weeks at Hexcite

In addition to working on your software with your team, meet with the entire Hexcite cohort weekly for a series of workshops, trainings, and interactive events. Topics include:

• Commercialization pathway, market size and definition, and competitive matrixes
• Interviewing: What works (and what doesn’t)
• Exploring business models
• Perfecting your pitch
• User-centered design and market barriers
• All things legal: IP, disclosure, regulations, and more
• Considering user experience in wireframing
• Product planning and the minimum viable software product
• The entrepreneurial ecosystem: Funding and resources
• All things data and integration at Johns Hopkins
• Preparing for your pilot at Johns Hopkins
• Pitch and prototype
• Test your pitch
• Pitch event
• Funding and grants

Experiential learning is in our DNA

At America’s first research university, we know firsthand that the next big discovery in business happens when we roll up our sleeves and immerse ourselves in the field. That’s why we push ourselves out of our comfort zones and bring the field to the classroom, take the classroom to the field, and drive innovations to market. We don’t shy away from complex problems, we embrace them, and hone our skills and knowledge in the process.

Carey Business School’s full-time MBA curriculum was recognized by MBA Roundtable with a 2021 Innovator Award of General Excellence. MBA Roundtable’s Innovator Award Program promotes initiatives that advance innovation in graduate management education and recognizes institutions that drive change in the field.  

Gain the skills employers demand

Throughout your career, you will be faced with tough decisions, tight budgets, limited resources, and not enough data. But your foundation of strong leadership skills developed in our hands-on courses prepares you to face the most difficult challenges head-on. Our courses and co-curriculars aren’t based on a mold. It’s about finding what styles and strategies work best for you. Think creatively. Innovate to overcome obstacles. And graduate with the framework to continue sharpening your personalized approach to leadership, research, client engagement, and communication.

The World Economic Forum “Future of Jobs” report named complex problem solving, critical thinking, teaming, and creativity the top three in-demand skills for 2020. Experiential learning is your opportunity to refine these skills and pilot new approaches while working with business partners to solve their existing problems and current challenges.

Where will experiential learning take you?

Our students have completed 200+ on-site projects around the world. If you prefer to stay close, you can collaborate with Johns Hopkins experts across the university and hospital, and tap into Baltimore and Washington, D.C.’s vibrant innovation networks to make an impact in one of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.

Experiential co-curriculars

Trade in the classroom for consulting jobs, case competitions, and more to grow your network and gain invaluable insights and experience. Put your business education to work and continue building your leadership skills with co-curricular experiential learning opportunities.

Explore all of our co-curricular experiential learning opportunities.

• Case competitions
• Community Consulting lab
• Commercialization Academy
• Hexite
• Impact sprints
• MIINT Impact Investing program

Experiential Courses by Program

• FLEXIBLE MBA
• FULL-TIME MBA
• MASTER OF SCIENCE
• EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Explore the dynamic Carey community through a selection of in-person, on the road, and virtual opportunities. Experience firsthand what it’s like to be a student in Baltimore or Washington, D.C. at Carey Business School by visiting us in-person. If you can’t make it to Carey in-person, attend a virtual information session, take a look at our locations via our virtual tour, or visit us on the road at a location closer to you. We will be participating or hosting events worldwide.

Whether you join us in-person, online, or on the road, you will have the opportunity to learn more about our programs, the application process, financial aid, the unwavering support Carey provides you throughout your time as a student, and more. You will also learn about the teams you’ll work with during your time at Carey, such as Career & Life Design and Experiential Learning. Continue to check this page as we regularly add new visit opportunities.

Ways to connect with Carey

Please note: Event attendance has no bearing on an applicant’s admission decision, nor does it qualify an applicant to receive an application fee waiver. While we encourage prospective students to attend our admissions events, webinars, and information sessions to learn more about our program and the Carey community, these events do not provide an opportunity to waive the application fee.

About Our Locations

Baltimore, MD

Baltimore’s Harbor East neighborhood was once the city’s industrial heart but has now emerged as a direction setter for business in Baltimore - from established firms to newly relocated ventures and thriving startups. This also makes it the ideal location to pursue a graduate business education and start the next phase of your career. Your future, built here.

Washington, D.C.

Carey Business School’s new D.C. location at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW is designed for the academic needs of today and the future. This state-of-the-art Johns Hopkins location creates new opportunities for research, education, and public engagements, giving you the powerful combination of the distinctive Hopkins advantage in the heart of Washington, D.C.

Add a specialization in Real Estate.

The Flexible MBA real estate specialization is designed to teach students at an introductory level how to conduct due diligence and value the five main property types: residential, office, industrial, retail, and hotel/hospitality. Students will also learn about the main investment strategies used in real estate: core, core+, value-add, and opportunistic. As they progress through the specialization with elective classes, the focus will shift away from the five main property types to infrastructure, including social infrastructure, transportation assets, and public-private partnerships. 

*The real estate specialization courses can only be completed in our synchronous online format.

Real estate curriculum highlights

Required courses to earn the specialization

BU.241.745 Fundamentals of Real Estate Valuation and Investment Analysis  (2 Credits)

This course is designed to level the playing field among students of all levels of real estate knowledge. It will also provide an introduction for students across the university that are interested in learning how to value different types of real estate investments. The course explores the investment characteristics, risks, and proforma building blocks of the five main property types (residential, office, industrial, retail, and hotels). Students will be introduced to foundational concepts, including the mechanics of fixed rate mortgages, back-of-the-envelope analysis, and multi-year proforma modeling for income producing properties and ground-up developments. Additionally, students will be introduced to indirect real estate investments such as syndications, pooled and commingled funds, commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), and real estate investment trusts (REITs).

BU.241.630 Real Estate Products and Emerging Trends (2 Credits)

This course will provide an in-depth examination of the main value determinants, investment characteristics, principal risks, and most likely investors for traditional property types (office, apartment, industrial) and non-traditional property types (self-storage, data center, medical office). Students will learn how to build a valuation model for different property types, and will come away with an understanding of the nuances (quantitative and qualitative) that an investor must consider when determining the present worth of a particular property. The course will also cover emerging trends for financing real estate, such as crowdsourcing and tokenization.

Electives (must take at least three to earn the Real estate specialization)

BU.152.740 City Lab Catalyst: Business Innovation for Social Impact (2 Credits) and BU.152.745 City Lab Practicum: Social Impact Project (2 Credits)

For the first time in history, humans are an urban species; the livability of cities now determines the future of humanity and the planet. CityLab is an urban innovation platform engaging students in a global experiment of reinventing cities by revitalizing urban neighborhoods from within. The CityLab toolkit immerses you in the concrete context of people and places dealing with the disruptive uncertainty and frustration of livability challenges that threaten the environment, human health, social cohesion, civic order, and prosperity of cities. It introduces strategies, tools, and practices for tackling these challenges as opportunities to co-create value for the flourishing of humanity and the planet. This course is a hands-on, active learning experience requiring a high degree of individual commitment, initiative, self-discipline, adaptability, and collaboration. Learn more

BU.241.725 Global Perspectives in Real Estate (2 Credits)

This course focuses on real estate and infrastructure investment and financing issues around the globe. Using a case approach supplemented by assigned articles and textbook readings, the course examines the global nature of the real estate asset class; the market players and the issues they encounter when identifying opportunities; and executing real estate strategies in various global markets. Topics covered include risks and returns of international real estate investment; challenges in international real estate development; identification of opportunities and execution of real estate strategies around the world; REITs around the globe; and global real estate portfolio considerations.

BU.241.740 Project Finance and Public-Private Infrastructure Delivery (2 Credits)

Project financing, as an alternative to conventional direct financing, is a well-established technique for large capital-intensive projects. It grew in importance in the 1990s as a means of financing projects designed to help meet the tremendous infrastructure needs existing in both developed and developing countries. Whether project financing is suitable for such a purpose will depend, ultimately, on if this financing method offers the most cost-effective means of accomplishing the project after all social and private benefits and costs are considered. This course will discuss the basic project financing framework; the rationale for using project financing as opposed to direct conventional financing; the identification and management of risks associated with a large scale project; evaluating a project’s viability using analytical tools; sources of project funds; using public-private partnerships as a mode of project financing; and the crafting of contractual arrangements to allocate a project’s risk and economic rewards among the parties involved.

BU.242.720 Real Estate Capital Market Analysis (2 Credits)

This course examines selected topics and issues related to real estate capital markets. Special emphasis will be placed on mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs). This class will be conducted using a lecture format. While lectures will follow the table of contents of the textbook rather closely, quite often supplemental readings are required. Students are assumed to have some knowledge of real estate finance. Before taking this class, it is important that students have a clear understanding of the design of mortgages and knowledge of how to use spreadsheets to solve mortgage related problems. Knowing how to use a calculator to solve present value problems is not sufficient for tackling the course materials of this class.

BU.241.610 Real Estate Investments and Development (2 Credits)

This course provides an overview of the real estate development and investment processes, as well as introduces students to various disciplines, professionals, and industry sectors, and how they interact and participate in these processes. Students learn to apply direct capitalization models and discounted cash flow models to estimate real estate values by converting future income expectations into present values. These values are compared to current costs and prices to determine the financial feasibility of proposed projects and existing properties. The concept of highest and best use is also introduced and discussed. The use of Excel software is introduced along with the CoStar database.

BU.241.705 Selected Topics in the Real Estate Industry (2 Credits)

This course will cover key “of the moment” issues that are affecting the real estate industry. Among many questions to be considered are: What is the future of office properties? How will decarbonization and other environmental, social, governance (ESG) regulations affect real estate? How is big data (tokenization) being used in real estate investing? This is a team-taught course that will bring together recognized industry leaders and a Carey faculty. The class includes a broad set of guest lecturers, including asset managers, real estate technology specialists, entrepreneurs, policy makers. Topics will be discussed in a relatively non-technical way, and the course will include a mix of case study, academic readings, and interactions with guest lecturers who handle these “of the moment” topics daily.

BU.241.770 Smart Growth, Infrastructure, and Real Estate (2 Credits)

For the past twenty years smart growth has had an increasingly significant impact on the built environment. Smart growth results in better cost-benefit outcomes for both developers and the public sector, more efficient and appealing land use in prime locations, and new financing tools. This course provides an understanding of historic development patterns of cities and towns, the emergence of the American suburb, and the countervailing smart growth approach. Examined are the principles behind smart growth, the demographic and economic forces furthering the widespread adoptions of these principles—urban revitalization, smaller households, a more transient workforce and racial and ethnic diversity. The growing strength of the Baby Boomers and the Millennials on the market is discussed. Attention is given to the increasingly important impacts of climate change, sustainability, changing tools of economic development competitiveness, health and equity of communities. The main tools of smart growth, such as higher density, mix of land uses, transportation and housing choices, transit-oriented development, walkable neighborhoods, and form-based zoning are examined. Collectively many of these tools are parts of Complete Streets policies. The impacts of public policies and private demand are discussed.

BU.241.650 The Evolution of Housing, Property, and Public Finance (2 Credits)

The Evolution of Housing Policy and Community Development is a course surveying the programs and politics surrounding the evolution of housing, real estate, and urban policy in the United States.  Topics will include low-income housing programs, community development, urban renewal, homeownership, and mortgage financing programs.  Special attention will be given to the practical and ideological implications of the historic interplay between the public and private sectors in formulating policy.  Students will select a city to investigate for a final project that explores contemporary governance and development challenges by utilizing themes from the class.

Experiential learning co-curricular opportunities

Trade in the classroom for consulting jobs, case competitions, and more to grow your network and gain invaluable insights and experience. Put your business education to work and continue building your leadership skills with co-curricular experiential learning opportunities.

Case competitions

Participate in a business case competition to develop critical business and presentation skills, gain industry experience, and network with experts and potential employers.

Commercialization Academy

An incubator for innovation at Johns Hopkins, the Commercialization Academy connects you with faculty, staff, and students across the university to bring over 300 new ideas to fruition and technologies to market each year. 

Community Consulting Lab

Lead a consulting project and tackle real problems in partnership with regional nonprofits, start-ups, and small businesses.

Design teams

Partner with a student organization and use your design thinking skills to plan and oversee an event. Hone your design thinking skills without making a semester-long commitment to a course or club.

Hexcite

At the Hexcite early-stage medical software accelerator, match with Johns Hopkins care providers who have an idea to create and market a software solution that improves patient care. Join a team of graduate students from across Johns Hopkins to engage with the new health technology software from every angle and bring the care provider's innovation to market.

Impact Sprints

Farms, emergency rooms, and local Baltimore organizations provide the backdrop to put your skills to the test, emerge as a confident, strategic leader, and help local organizations overcome obstacles to increase impact.

MIINT Impact Investing Program

Join the six-month experiential lab that simulates the early stages of impact investing. Participate in one-on-one advisory sessions and gain experience evaluating real-world investment opportunities.

Non-profit boards

Partner with Business Volunteers of Maryland to match with a nonprofit looking for new board members. Through board service, develop leadership skills, build a network within your industry, and make a significant impact at a nonprofit.

Student organizations

Join a student honor society or one of Carey Business School’s more than twenty student organizations.

Student Startup Challenge

Pitch your proposed business venture for the opportunity to receive seed money and develop your concept.