Medical Experts Represent Maryland Smith Among Poets & Quants’ Best and Brightest EMBAs for 2020

Kimberly Lumpkins and Patricia Turner, representing the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, are featured among the world’s “Best and Brightest Executive MBA Graduates” in the class of 2020, by Poets & Quants, the digital news outlet dedicated to global coverage of business education.

An associate professor of pediatric surgery with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Lumpkins drew special recognition in the overview story. “The class has certainly racked up its share of accolades. Take [Lumpkins]. She was named one of Baltimore Magazine’s Top Doctors in 2019. That year, the student council at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine also honored her with the Best Clinical Faculty Award.”

A former firefighter, Turner is a clinical associate professor of surgery at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. She also has overseen a year-over-year membership increase in the American College of Surgeons, as director of member services for the world’s largest professional association for surgeons of all specialties.

She told Poets & Quants the “Lead Fearlessly” tagline drew her, in part, to Maryland Smith’s program.

“It resonated with me,” she said. “In the medical profession, one must be ‘fearless’ and disciplined to make patient care decisions, advance an agenda, and solve problems through innovation. In medicine, as in business, we must be prepared to make the best choices in tough times, and sometimes with an incomplete dataset.”

Lumpkins told Poets & Quants “a critical lesson for me was the distinction between tactical and strategic thinking.”

“As a surgeon, I tend to be focused on the tasks immediately in front of me – a tactical approach. My EMBA coursework taught me that purely tactical thinking can be problematic if you don’t have an overarching strategic vision to guide you to your goal,” Lumpkins said. “I applied these lessons daily as I spearheaded a new gender equity initiative at my workplace – creating our vision, our scope, and our strategic goals to guide our tactical decisions.”

J. Gerald Suarez, professor of the practice in systems thinking and design at Maryland Smith, described Lumpkins as an “energetic contributor” to the EMBA program. “She led by example and was always straightforward in discussion, decisive in action, and most importantly empathic, inclusive, and approachable.”

Turner’s cohort peers selected her (prior to the coronavirus crisis) to represent them as their commencement speaker. “Being selected by my highly accomplished classmates from various fields was deeply humbling and appreciated,” she said.

Senior Fellow for Executive Development Programs Judy Frels described Turner as “an executive of courage, values, and fortitude.”

“Having her in the classroom raised the quality and honesty of the conversation for us all,” Frels said.

To learn more, read the Kimberly Lumpkins complete profile, the Patricia Turner complete profile and read About Maryland Smith’s Executive MBA Program.