This week on the Be Epic podcast, Brent sits down with Dr. Sharmila Makhija, the founding dean and CEO of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. Dr. Makhija shares her insights and experiences in establishing a medical school from scratch, highlighting the unique opportunity it presents. Listeners will learn about the school's innovative whole-health approach to its MD curriculum and partnerships with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Whole Health Institute. Later in the episode Dr. Makhija discusses her background, growing up in a family of educators, and her early passion for medicine. She recounts how her exposure to her grandfather's medical practice in India solidified her desire to become a doctor. Dr. Makhija also shares her journey through medical school and her chosen specialty, highlighting the value of being curious and continuously learning. The episode offers a fascinating glimpse into the challenges and rewards of building a medical school and the personal motivations that drive Dr. Makhija's commitment to healthcare.
Podcast Episode
Episode Transcript
Sharmila Makhija 0:00
We're also going to incorporate a lot of innovation into the curriculum as well, so
that it's not so much work, but it's at least balanced with understanding how technology
impacts. AI has become a very big part of healthcare, at least in how we're approaching
things. So I think that we're going to hopefully attract students that want to take
care of patients to the best of their ability, but also keep up to date with how technology's
advancing how we deliver health care.
Brent Williams 0:32
Welcome to the Be Epic podcast, brought to you by the Sam M. Walton College of Business
at the University of Arkansas. I'm your host, Brent Williams. Together, we'll explore
the dynamic landscape of business and uncover the strategies, insights and stories
that drive business today. Today I have with me Dr. Sharmila Makhija. And Sharmila
is the founding dean and CEO of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. Welcome.
Sharmila Makhija 0:59
Thank you so much Brent. We're so happy to be here.
Brent Williams 1:02
Well, we're glad to have you in Northwest Arkansas and are excited about what you're
leading and can't wait to talk a little bit more.
Sharmila Makhija 1:10
Yeah. Happy to talk about it.
Brent Williams 1:12
So starting a medical school from the ground up, what an opportunity.
Sharmila Makhija 1:18
It is. It's really it's one you know a once in a lifetime opportunity, you don't often
find that this kind of an opportunity, you might see new medical schools popping up.
But usually you have a university that's attached or a hospital, and we don't have
either one. So really, we're starting it fully from scratch.
Brent Williams 1:36
Well, excited to see what all you're doing, I know there's wonderful things happening
there that we'll dig into. But maybe before we do, we should dig into your background
just a little bit. Tell us a little bit about you.
Sharmila Makhija 1:48
Well, I'm born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, my mom still lives there. There's
three of us and the three kids in the family. Both my parents were teachers. My dad
was a college chemistry professor of chemistry. Yep.
Brent Williams 2:03
What university?
Sharmila Makhija 2:04
He was at Alabama State University. He trained he got his PhD at Indiana University.
Brent Williams 2:09
Okay.
Sharmila Makhija 2:09
And that was actually the first place mom lived was in Bloomington, Indiana after
they got married. So I have fond memories of Indiana University, and I grew up watching
Bobby Knight play basketball.
Brent Williams 2:21
Okay.
Sharmila Makhija 2:22
The whole story. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And mom is a retired high school
biology teacher. So family of teachers, education was always an important part.
Brent Williams 2:33
I see that science was clearly in the making for you.
Sharmila Makhija 2:37
Yes. Yeah. So it was a great upbringing, my, both my parents made sure that whenever
we were, you know, sitting down for dinner, we sat as a family. And we talked about
what we learned for the day, and how do we make things better for someone else? So
I just grew up with, you know, knowing we're going to be asked that question. And
then fast forward, that's how I approach things with my own teams.
Brent Williams 3:02
Is, well is, was the answer to that question about how you're going to impact others,
is that what led you toward medicine?
Sharmila Makhija 3:10
You know, I knew early on that I was I wanted to be a doctor, my, I think it was about
nine when I declared that to my parents. My mom's dad was a doctor and her brother
is a doctor. But I really wanted to go spend time with my grandparents that were in
India to really solidify if this is what I wanted to do. And, you know, I, I went
to India by myself on a Pan Am flight and spent the summer with my grandparents. And
I would go with him, carry his doctor's bag and go with him to see patients. And I
loved it. I loved every minute of it. You know, a lot of the patients were lined up
in the hallways, and they would bring their own child or grandson or granddaughter
that spoke English. And so I'd speak to them and find out what the problem was and
report it to my grandfather and, and I knew that's what I wanted to do.
Brent Williams 4:02
Well, wonderful. And so tell us a little bit about maybe your journey getting there
through medical school and then your chosen specialty.
Sharmila Makhija 4:12
Yes, yeah. So, you know, once I knew that, that's what I really wanted to do. I volunteered
at the hospital, I really wanted to get exposed to everything there was as to what
a patient endured. I don't know early on I just wanted to understand that not that
you know, I questioned things it was just more I was curious. And so I volunteered
and then I worked at some of my my parents friends offices and the outpatient offices
and I did some of the billing.
Brent Williams 4:43
Oh, wow
Sharmila Makhija 4:43
Front desk things and I think I always just always either curious or bored so I always
wanted to learn something.
Brent Williams 4:54
I would add motivated, actually, to that list.
Sharmila Makhija 4:50
You're too kind, but I really enjoyed it. And so once I decided I wanted to do that,
and I really enjoyed it. I went to college, I came back after going to Cornell up
in Ithaca, I came back to UAB for med school. And what's interesting is I really thought
I was going to do either pediatrics or internal medicine, because that's all I was
exposed to. And so I think that's something I always tell my, our own faculty and
students, the more you're exposed to things, it really broadens your, your insights
as to what resonates with you. And so I back then you had to type out applications
were for residency programs. And I thought, well, I have OB GYN as my last rotation.
But surely, I don't think I'm gonna want to stay up all night delivering babies. I
think it's cool. But I don't want to do that. And so I sent out all my applications
for internal medicine, thought I would probably do cardiology, or GI. And so I did
the rotation on OB GYN and I enjoyed it. But I thought, okay, not enough to change
anything. And then I did the GYN section, which is the surgery and I liked it, but
not enough. And then one of my classmates was supposed to do the GYN oncology rotation.
And he got sick. So they asked me to fill in for him. And GYN oncology is a doctor
that does both the surgery for cancer for women, but also gives chemotherapy so you
take care of the person the whole time.
Brent Williams 6:13
Okay,
Sharmila Makhija 6:13
So I did that and on the first day, I thought, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have to redo
my application. It just clicked. And I loved the doctors I worked with, I wanted to
be like them. I loved the patients, even though it seems to be very sad. And it's
cancer. They were very grateful. And we just worked as a team. So I really, it clicked
with me redid, all the applications. And that's what sent me onto the path of doing
OB GYN and then ultimately, my fellowship and GYN oncology at Sloan Kettering.
Brent Williams 5:06
Okay.
Sharmila Makhija 5:26
Yes, yes.
Brent Williams 5:36
Well, I see, you know, one of the things striking to me in that, is, I could see when
you were talking about it, you're the, the interest in maybe joy and satisfaction
and taking care of that patient throughout that whole process.
Sharmila Makhija 7:10
That's exactly right. I didn't want my personality is to not do one piece, and then
we're gone. And everybody's personality is different not to say it's wrong, if you
feel that way. For me, I really want it to be engaged with the family that met with
the husbands I probably talked more to the husbands than even the patient's themselves,
because they would call saying, she's not able to eat, how can I help her? So I really
learned how to help that family unit get through the whole, you know, impact of having
a diagnosis of cancer.
Brent Williams 7:45
Yeah so early on, you were interested in the whole person.
Sharmila Makhija 7:48
That's exactly right.
Brent Williams 7:49
And you know, so
Sharmila Makhija 7:51
I see where you're going with this.
Brent Williams 7:51
Yeah, so now, now you find yourself
Sharmila Makhija 7:54
Yeah,
Brent Williams 7:55
Leading the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. Tell us a little bit about one about
the emerging medical school, and what you're focused on?
Sharmila Makhija 8:06
Yes. So we are, you know, what, what brought me here was the fact that we're looking
at medicine the way I feel like I was trained and practice. So we're looking at how
do we take care of the whole person, not just their illness, but how do we even look
at possibly preventing that illness? So this school is really utilizing a traditional
curriculum, but we're enhancing it with whole health principles. And because we're
sitting on a world class, museum ground, how do we infuse the arts and humanities
into this, but it's that whole person approach, looking at their mental well, being
social well being, you know, as much as we can incorporate early on, on how to diagnose
it, and how to address it, I think is very helpful for students to have that skill
set.
Brent Williams 9:00
And this will be one of a kind?
Sharmila Makhija 9:02
You know, we like to say we're one of a kind, I think there are many schools that
use parts of it. I think what we're doing differently is we're doing it, immediately
incorporating it into the curriculum. So I'm always cautious to say one of a kind,
but probably.
Brent Williams 9:20
Okay, alright. Fair enough.
Sharmila Makhija 9:22
Yes, yeah.
Brent Williams 9:23
Well, you know, in addition to the School of Medicine, there's also the Whole Health
Institute.
Sharmila Makhija 9:29
Yes.
Brent Williams 9:30
And you alluded to Crystal Bridges.
Sharmila Makhija 9:33
Yes.
Brent Williams 9:33
The world class Art Museum.
Sharmila Makhija 9:35
Yes.
Brent Williams 9:35
Will be connected to on the same grounds.
Sharmila Makhija 9:37
Yes.
Brent Williams 9:38
How will all those fit in?
Sharmila Makhija 9:39
Yeah, so the Whole Health Institute is a completely separate organization. We work
complementary to each other, but the Whole Health Institute is really focused on advocacy,
public policy, health care delivery systems. So how does you know changing from a
fee for service type model, to a value based care model, where you're looking at the
outcomes, and how you're reimbursed for that, and we want to take some of those principles
and put it into the curriculum, teacher, students, teacher faculty, and then as we
go out onto the healthcare delivery system with hospital partners, how do we incorporate
that in real time? So we're separate but complementary, and work very closely together
with them.
Brent Williams 10:26
Okay. And what was striking about that, is that what the Whole Health Institute learns,
I'm assuming you can bring back into the school?
Sharmila Makhija 10:26
Absolutely. And I think that's where we want that bridge to happen in real time as
much as we can. Because I think it's important to keep, but what we want is for the
school to keep in touch with what things are happening or evolving, and apply them
as quickly as we can. So I even imagine the curriculum we have now will evolve, because
we want to be able to, you know, within reason to incorporate those learnings, because
it just helps a soon to be physician learn those skill sets to apply.
Brent Williams 11:12
Yeah, and I assume both the School of Medicine and the Whole Health Institute are
able to connect into various partners, healthcare system partners?
Sharmila Makhija 11:22
Yeah. And we're exploring all that right now we're looking at how we work with our
local hospital systems. Because I think that's probably the most important piece.
And as you know, we want to build up our pay our physician population in the region,
I think that's so needed. So working with hospital partners is going to be key for
that.
Brent Williams 11:43
And one of the, I guess, I think, stated goals is that, that this school will create
more physicians that will hopefully stay in Northwest Arkansas or Arkansas.
Sharmila Makhija 11:53
That's right. And what we know is that when a physician when a student graduates from
med school and goes to for residency program, which is the next, next step with training
in that particular field, they tend to stay in that region. And so our goal is to
increase residency slots locally. You know, we're working together with our partners,
because that only helps the whole state. So increasing those residency slots, will
likely retain people to stay here and work. And we need a hospital systems for them
to work at. So I think that as we look at the students that we're graduating, we gotta
look forward as to where they're going to work.
Brent Williams 12:37
Yeah. Well, as you're, as you're starting to, and I know you're a little ways away
from recruiting students. But you know, what kind of student do you think is going
to choose the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine?
Sharmila Makhija 12:50
You know, I think, well, we we are assuming we're going to attract a lot of students
that are interested in looking at this whole person approach. But we're also going
to incorporate a lot of innovation into the curriculum as well, we're again exploring
how to develop this curriculum. So that it's not so much work, but it's at least balanced
with understanding how technology impacts, AI is become a very big part of healthcare,
at least in how we're approaching things. So I think that we're going to hopefully
attract students that want to take care of patients to the best of their ability,
but also keep up to date with how technology is advancing how we deliver healthcare.
Brent Williams 13:32
And technology, artificial intelligence, particularly, has a tremendous opportunity
to have a big positive impact in healthcare.
Sharmila Makhija 13:32
Yes, yes, it does. I think we're still learning how that really looks, because you
can have almost sometimes too much information and how do you process it. But I think
that embracing the changes and proactively looking at how we can incorporate that,
whether it's the curriculum or in the healthcare delivery system, I think that's going
to be key on making us actually a little bit different.
Brent Williams 14:06
Yeah, well, just the ability one, I guess the notion that you're going to be constantly
on the outlook for what's changing and bringing that in, in as real time as possible.
Sharmila Makhija 14:16
Yes, yeah.
Brent Williams 14:17
And I know that you have to have a standard curriculum, but you're gonna be able to
enhance it in these ways.
Sharmila Makhija 14:21
Exactly. That's exactly right. And I always say within reason, because we can be very
aspirational, put a lot of things, but we also have to make it doable, and make it
so that we are getting feedback from the students as well, what's working, what's
not, hey, what are we missing? So we really want this to be, you know, a very interactive
type of curriculum with input that just keeps on top of the current state.
Brent Williams 14:49
Yep. Well, I know that, you know, I think I've heard you say, and this is an MD degree
that's enhanced by whole health and there's core things that are involved in an MD
degree, right?
Sharmila Makhija 15:00
Yes.
Brent Williams 15:00
There's accreditation. So I assume you're working through all of those things.
Sharmila Makhija 15:03
Yes. In fact, we sent in our big set of paperwork back in July for the, the program
accreditation, which is called LCME. And they are now going to be reviewing our paperwork
in October. And we will soon find out when our site visit is which would be anywhere
from four to six months after they decide.
Brent Williams 15:25
Okay.
Sharmila Makhija 15:25
So that will be the first, we we consider this the first hurdle, this will be the
next hurdle of getting through that. And once we get preliminary accreditation, then
we'll be able to recruit students. So we're, we're predicting that a year from now,
if all goes well, we'll be able to start the recruitment for students to start in
the fall of 2025.
Brent Williams 15:47
Well, congratulations on that hurdle. And that is a big hurdle.
Sharmila Makhija 15:50
It's a big hurdle. Yeah. And the team, I have to say, you know, I'm coming here to
speak on behalf of the team, I just want to say because the team is really quite spectacular,
that just working very hard, as you can imagine. It's a startup mode feel.
Brent Williams 16:04
Yeah.
Sharmila Makhija 16:04
And it's a lot of work.
Brent Williams 16:06
It is, but I know it will be worth it. I know we'll have a huge impact. You know,
speaking of your, the students that will come. You know, I heard you say something
you were speaking not too long ago, and I heard you say something that caught my attention
that you were going to focus some on how those health care professionals will take
care of themselves.
Sharmila Makhija 16:30
Yeah, yes. So we have, we're looking at incorporating self care coaching or self coaching
for self care. And, again, working with the Whole Health Institute on developing that
model, we want the students to be able to know how to take care of themselves. You
know, burnout is a big issue in many fields, especially in health care. And we feel
very strongly that equipping the students with certain skill sets to be able to take
care of themselves, so that they can take care of others is really the way to look
at things. So that's going to be a very important piece of this is not only just the
teaching of, you know the information, but learning how to take care of themselves.
Brent Williams 17:16
Did did you, did you see a marked difference post-COVID versus pre-COVID in burnout
and some of these?
Sharmila Makhija 17:23
Oh, yes. And I think you know, what I saw and I was up in New York, when we were first
hit, and just developing new models of care, right, doing a lot of things by telemedicine.
What we saw were that all the health care professionals, from the nurses, to the doctors,
to the support teams, really stepped up and really came into play to help take care
of very sick patients. But at a cost, you know, a lot of they were already working
very hard. And now we you know, double the amount of work basically, under duress.
I mean, everybody was nervous about contracting COVID. We didn't know what to expect.
But we did see once we started to the pandemic started to slow down or resolve. I
think it all caught up. And people were that all the professionals were really exhausted,
and really thought, hey, you know, life is short. How do I do things better? And how
do I take care of myself? So that's where burnout has become a big topic. And it does
come down to do we have the skill sets? Do we also have the support services, to help
the professionals get through something? Like any kind of emotional type of distress
from a situation. Mental social well being. Things like that.
Brent Williams 18:46
Ok,
Sharmila Makhija 18:47
Yeah,
Brent Williams 18:47
and, you know, I don't think we've talked yet about we've mentioned being on the grounds
of Crystal Bridges. And if you're listening and haven't been there, one, you should
go,
Sharmila Makhija 18:57
Yeah.
Brent Williams 18:58
but two, when if you've been there, or if you end up there at some point, you'll just
notice the striking beauty
Sharmila Makhija 19:05
Yeah,
Brent Williams 19:06
All around.
Sharmila Makhija 19:06
Yeah.
Brent Williams 19:07
And and your facilities will be nestled throughout that.
Sharmila Makhija 19:10
Yes, we'll be within walking, you know, trail distance from from the museum. And we
feel very important that because we have the privilege of being on the same grounds,
we want to incorporate the arts to how we, you know, we're exploring how that looks.
But you know, on a simple scale, if you even go look at a piece of art, you and I
might be seeing the same piece of art but we see something different. So just even
honing in on our skills of how we look at things, how we diagnose things, how we communicate,
what we're seeing, I think will only help when we're looking at patients that are
ill and you again two doctors are going to look at it very differently. But the more
we can look at things to pick up on subtleties, I think will only enhance the patient
physician provider relationship.
Brent Williams 20:08
Such an interesting analogy.
Sharmila Makhija 20:09
Yes, yes.
Brent Williams 20:10
What about nature? I think I think that will be incor- incorporated throughout the
building?
Sharmila Makhija 20:15
Yes, exactly. So the building itself was designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox. And they
really did a beautiful job of looking at even using natural materials that are from
Arkansas, to build the building. And it's we wanted it to be a part of the community
and the nature piece, we didn't want it to be just standing up there very, very distinct.
We wanted it to be so that it was inviting to everyone. So there will be a community
pond, a reflection pool, you can even walk up to the very top of the roof because
there will be a rooftop garden amphitheater, so we wanted our students to be able
to also learn in a very natural environment. But we also wanted our community to be
able to come in, not be afraid of it, we wanted it to be very inviting. And there
are studies that show when you are studying amongst nature, or you're taking walks
and things like that, it improves the way you learn. So I think it was done in a very
mindful way, of course, from our, our incredible founder, Alice Walton really felt
this was important to have. And so it's really quite spectacular.
Brent Williams 21:33
Yeah, well, I know it will be absolutely beautiful. It will be quite unique in itself
for a medical school, I guess, to be incorporated, not only in nature. But
Sharmila Makhija 21:43
Yes,
Brent Williams 21:45
I'm sure there's not another one that's right next to a museum.
Sharmila Makhija 21:49
That's right, not that I've seen, and that we'll have some of the artwork from the
museum as well in the area. So I think it's going to be the building itself will be
really kind of fun. And inside the building will have all the state of the art technology
simulation centers, and anatomy labs that are really more cutting edge. I think it's
really going to be a quite a spectacular learning environment inside and outside.
Brent Williams 22:20
You know, when we were talking about your purpose, and the why and creating the medical
school, and a significant part of that purpose being that we would create more physicians
that would stay in Arkansas, I think there's other opportunities for impact. And we
were talking
That's right. That's right.
Lots of ways for this for the School of Medicine and Whole Health Institute,
Sharmila Makhija 22:43
right
Brent Williams 22:43
to positively impact Arkansas.
Sharmila Makhija 22:45
That's right. And, you know, our mission is to bridge health for everyone. And so
we really, we're looking at, if if we even just get to the to the data, Arkansas is
ranked 48 out of 50, when it looks when we look at health outcomes 50 out of 50 for
maternal health. And when we look at that, that's really the driving force to how
we create our curriculum, how we work with Whole Health Institute, we really want
to impact patient outcomes. And in order to do that we have to work together and we
have to not compete against each other, but really work at enhancing how do we develop
a care delivery system that delivers on health outcomes for community, rather than
just volume base? Looking at how many patients you see, are we impacting the health
of a community?
Brent Williams 23:42
Absolutely,
Sharmila Makhija 23:43
Yes. Yeah.
Brent Williams 23:44
Well you know, I noticed something that I think is a little bit unusual in your background,
not, you know, I mean you find it, but you don't find it all that often. So you're
a physician with an MBA?
Sharmila Makhija 23:56
Yeah, yeah.
Brent Williams 23:57
And of course, being the dean of a business school that caught my attention.
Sharmila Makhija 24:00
Sure, sure.
Brent Williams 24:01
You know, so you're already practicing. I think you're practicing at Emory and
Sharmila Makhija 24:05
Yeah,
Brent Williams 24:06
you chose to get an MBA
Sharmila Makhija 24:07
Yeah.
Brent Williams 24:08
Why, why did you make that choice?
Sharmila Makhija 24:09
You know, it's funny, my whole career, I really focused on translational research.
And I was very happy with the fact that I tried to understand both languages, the
basic science and the clinicians. And I always was trying to bridge that understanding.
And then I went on to Emory to be a division chief and GYN oncology. And it was 2008.
And the financial crisis happened, right? And then I was approached by the team saying,
hey, you know, the endowment's is cut in half because I was brought in to help build
up the cancer program. And I said, well, how am I supposed to do this with half the
money? And I realized I didn't understand their language. They didn't understand my
language. And I thought, well, let me just go next door and see if I can, you know,
maybe just take an accounting class and then they convinced me why don't you do a
business degree. It was not easy to do, regardless. But it was I loved it. I loved
every minute of it because I thought the teachers were just incredible. And what I
quickly learned is that as much as I thought finance and accounting was the key, the
key languages, I had an incredible professor who was a professor of organizational
behavior. And it just clicked with me because in medicine, we think we work on teams,
and we sort of work on teams. But to make impactful changes, you have to have a different
team dynamic, where the lead professor or the lead clinician isn't necessarily the
one who knows the most amount of information or what should be done. And so that really
changed things for me and learning how we design our teams and how we work together,
how we have to help bring the teams up to another level. And that was really something
that was unexpected. I didn't think that's what I would learn from from business school.
But it really it's carried me throughout. And that's how I mentor everyone who thinks
they just need those three letters to get to the next level. I always caution them,
tell me what you want to learn from this and gain from it. Forget about the degree
but what do you really want to learn? And that I think changed really the direction
of my career because soon after that, I was asked to come look at the chair position
at Louisville where I'd been a resident and then fast forward, here we are so.
Now you are leading an organization.
Right, right, right.
Brent Williams 26:33
You know what I've seen you already start to put that into practice as you're building
your team or reached out to us about.
Sharmila Makhija 26:39
Yes,
Brent Williams 26:40
how you're going to how we can help with team and leadership skills.
Sharmila Makhija 26:45
Absolutely.
Brent Williams 26:46
You know, and maybe I'll ask you as, as you're building out a team and recruiting
a team, recruiting faculty. What is, how do you characterize your own leadership style?
Sharmila Makhija 26:59
You know, I, I've had all those tests done and try to confirm who I think I am. I
think I am a collaborative type leader. And I have confirmation that I am.
Brent Williams 27:11
You have the paper.
Sharmila Makhija 27:12
I have the paper. But you know, I think in any type of leadership role, you have to
be able to go in and out different styles depending on the situation. So I, I am pretty
good about being observant and seeing how, again, we can be saying the same thing,
but everybody's gonna take in what they want, or they can absorb. So you have to be
able to communicate differently to different groups, even to each individual. So I
do I do think I'm able to pivot not perfect, I'm not the best at it. But I'm always
trying to learn how to be better at making sure what I'm saying is being understood,
are we working together? So I do flip in and out of different styles sometimes.
Brent Williams 27:56
It's an agile style of leadership, but I'm sure, you're in startup mode,
Sharmila Makhija 28:00
We are,
Brent Williams 28:00
And that's probably particularly important.
Sharmila Makhija 28:02
Yes, because you know, I'm coming from traditional places. We don't have traditional
ground rules, and we have to be able to move and, and even when we're recruiting I
have, I'm very clear in saying if you want something that's really set, this might
be frustrating for you.
Brent Williams 28:19
Yeah,
Sharmila Makhija 28:19
Because we have to be able to move along and you have to be able to be flexible. And
sometimes we have to work late hours or the weekends, and sometimes we'll have off
so we have to be able to maneuver through those differences so.
Brent Williams 28:36
Well, if you're, you know, working to try to build a team with an innovative mindset
that's going to build something unique.
Sharmila Makhija 28:44
Yeah.
Brent Williams 28:46
Then I mean I think being in Bentonville is a great place to be I feel like it just
encourages that innovative thinking.
Sharmila Makhija 28:55
I think so too. I mean, it's really it's just an incredible place to be. And I have
a lot of friends. Yeah, I left New York City. And I was born and raised in Alabama.
So when I came and even interviewed for this position landing at the airport, it felt
like home because it felt like Montgomery. And I think the people are so like, not
only kind they're kind and generous and intelligent and helpful. And so it's a really
great community. I I feel like it makes our other work easier. Because we're not struggling
to get through all the other pieces, you know, of egos or everybody wants to help
each other. So I really enjoy that piece.
Brent Williams 29:41
I enjoy that about this community as well.
Sharmila Makhija 29:43
Yes, yeah.
Brent Williams 29:43
I mean you know you find easy connectivity,
Sharmila Makhija 29:46
Yes.
Brent Williams 29:47
And you know, you mentioned being a collaborative leader and this is a collaborative
place.
Sharmila Makhija 29:51
It really is. I mean, it's, you know, I just saw that recent Wall Street Journal article,
all my friends were sending this to me about you know, focusing on this gem that we
have in the Ozarks. And they're all curious now they're like, well, so you haven't
been calling us and you haven't come back to New York to visit. I said I don't have
a need to I'm having a great time here. So they're all coming to visit now. And it's
really nice. It's really nice. Yes, yes.
Brent Williams 29:52
Well, let me maybe close with with this question. So, you know, I always end with
something focused on our students. And, you know, we have about 8,000, between 8,500
and 9,000 students in the College of Business, probably about 8,000 of those are undergraduate
students.
Sharmila Makhija 30:41
Okay, okay.
Brent Williams 30:40
So if you can put yourself back in the shoes of that 21, 22 year old, really about
to enter the workforce in full time, at least for probably the first time.
Sharmila Makhija 30:53
Yes.
Brent Williams 30:53
And knowing what you now know about whole health. What advice would you give? Because
I think it's probably going to apply to me just like it does them.
Sharmila Makhija 31:02
I think we can all take in more advice, right. So I have a niece who's actually a
second year, a sophomore in college. And so I talked to her quite often. And it's,
it's because I'm always trying to understand where what's her point of view, how she's
dealing with college? And my advice would be that always remain curious. And the whole
health piece it starts early on, and taking care of yourself, so you can take care
of others. Whether or not it's your friends, or your colleagues, or going out into
the workforce, knowing how to really look inwardly, what do you need, take care of
yourself, you're going to be better equipped of moving forward and helping the community.
And I think that's just being curious as to how that changes. Because what you are
20 will be different when you're 30. Being in tune and being curious about it and
always learning. I think those are a lot of things that I, I still do of just even
when moving here, right. It's a different change for me. And just understanding what
what I need and learning about what I need. I think it's a lifelong habits.
Well, I was just about to use that word. I think, you know, lifelong learner.
Yes.
Brent Williams 32:26
You know, you're someone that has been agile throughout their career and just a curiosity.
Sharmila Makhija 32:33
Yes.
Brent Williams 32:34
So I'm so excited that you've brought all of those characteristics to Northwest Arkansas,
and can't wait to see the impact that you're gonna have through the Alice L. Walton
School of Medicine.
Sharmila Makhija 32:44
Well, thank you so much. And I look forward to working with you and your teams to
helping our our faculty grow as leaders. I think we have a gem having you and your
school here. So thank you for that.
Brent Williams 32:56
On behalf of the Walton College thank you for joining us for this captivating conversation.
To stay connected and never miss an episode, simply search for Be Epic on your preferred
podcast service.
Brent D. Williams is the Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
With a deep commitment to fostering excellence in business education and thought leadership,
Dr. Williams brings a wealth of experience to his role, shaping the future of the
college and its impact on students and the business community.
