Executive Medical Management

Faculty Executive Medical Management, September 2026 – April 2027

Academic Programme Director: Christian Gadolin

Associate Professor, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Research Interests: Leadership, governance, and organization of the public sector, with a particular focus on healthcare. Special interest in the conditions for change management and the factors that contribute to positive outcomes.

Has extensive experience in teaching change management and leadership, with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary collaborations and cooperation.

Previously served as the head of Health Academy West and is the editor of the book “Collaboration in Healthcare – From System to Practice” (2023), which provides a comprehensive overview of collaboration in healthcare.

Lecturer: Mikael Svensson

Professor in Applied Health Economics, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg

Research interest: Health economic evaluation and its application as a basis for decision-making in prioritization and investment decisions in healthcare.

Has taught in commissioned education programs for several years in Sweden as well as at hospitals and universities in Italy, the USA, Brazil, and more.

Extensive experience in HTA at both regional and national levels, e.g., as a member of the decision-making council for pharmaceutical subsidies (TLV).

Lecturer: Ewa Wikström

Professor of Health Governance,
School of Business, Economics and Law at the  University of Gothenburg

Research interest: Health management and health governance and transformation in large organizations. The main empirical focus is the health ecosystem, often with elements of multi-level governance and/or collaboration in wider networks. Broad experience in leading and participating in interdisciplinary research.

Extensive experience in managerial training in the health sector at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

Board member in the steering group of SweLife and several interdisciplinary research centers at the University of Gothenburg, for example, CERA and AgeCap.

Lecturer: Tomas Lindroth

PhD, Senior Lecturer and Head of Division, Department of Applied Information Technology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Gothenburg

Research interest: Digitalization and governance, digital maturity, and digital infrastructure. Broad experience with municipalities, regions, and government agencies, focusing on strategy, AI, and person-centered care.

Research leader, author, and engaging speaker
Swedish Center for Digital Innovation (SCDI)

Co-founder of Digital Governance
(www.digitalforvaltning.se)

Member of the steering group for GPCC, Centre for Person-Centred Care

Lecturer: Johan Magnusson

Professor of Information Systems,
Department of Applied Information Technology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Gothenburg

Research interest: Exploring the intersection of governance, digitalization, and AI in large organizations, primarily within the public sector. Focus on Twin Transition.

Research leader, author, and engaging speaker
Swedish Center for Digital Innovation (SCDI)

Founder of Digital Governance
(www.digitalforvaltning.se)

Lecturer: Andreas Hellström

PhD, Senior Lecturer, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology

Research interest: Action research and change management in healthcare, focusing on improving healthcare processes and services through practical knowledge development. Often works in close collaboration with healthcare organizations to design and implement changes that address complex system challenges.

Particular focus on translating research into practice to enhance healthcare delivery and organizational effectiveness.

Extensive experience in guiding change initiatives, mentoring professionals conducting research within their own organizations, and leading educational programmes on quality-driven organizational development.

Lecturer: John Holmberg

Professor, UNESCO Chair
Division of Physical Resource Theory, Chalmers University of Technology

Research interest: Sustainable transformation and learning for sustainable development. Co-founder of the Chalmers Initiative for Innovation and Sustainability Transitions.

Founder of the world’s first master’s program in Industrial Ecology and founder of Challenge Lab, which received the GUPES Green Gown Award in 2016.

Active as an advisor and expert internationally, including for the UN headquarters in New York on Agenda 2030, for UNESCO in Paris on learning for sustainable development, for UN-environment in Nairobi, and for the EU’s expert group on Ecoefficiency.

Board member of the strategic council at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

Lecturer: Johan Holmén

Postdoc, Division of Physical Resource Theory, Chalmers University of Technology

Research interest: Sustainable systems transformation through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Focus on understanding and addressing complex sustainability challenges in society using transformative approaches, with a particular interest in backcasting and social learning.

Contributed to the development of Challenge Lab at Chalmers, awarded the UNEP/EAUC GUPES Green Gown Award.

Participates in The Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership (2022-2024), an initiative by the Robert Bosch Foundation in collaboration with Humboldt University of Berlin, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Stockholm Resilience Centre, and the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions.

Lecturer: Johan Åkesson

Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenborg

Research interest: Governance in complex organizational contexts with a focus on management control and leadership. His latest research project, “Stressed by Control,” explored the impact of management control on leadership within both private and public sectors, with links to discussions on New Public Management (NPM) in public governance.

Engaged lecturer in executive eduction programs for organizations such as Volvo Cars, SKF, IKEA, Investment AB Latour, Capio, VGR, and the City of Gothenburg. Lectures in the Executive MBA program at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, responsible for the module in Management Accounting.

Extensive consulting experience in organizational and governance challenges across both private and public sectors.

Lecturer: Ulf Petrusson

Professor of Jurisprudence, Department of Law, School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg

Research interest: Legal aspects of innovation with a particular focus on medicine, technology, and digitalization in healthcare. His research explores the role of regulatory compliance in quality improvement and innovation. Recent work focuses on digital transformation, medical technology, and the evolution of healthcare systems.

Extensive experience in leadership training for both industry and the public sector.

Active in strategic initiatives on person-centered medical technology and involved in the steering group for the Centre for Person-Centered Care (GPCC) at the University of Gothenburg.

Target audience:
Leaders in healthcare and life sciences managing complex health and medicine-related organizations, where transformation, innovation, and implementation are integral to daily leadership tasks.

Date and place:
The programme is delivered in eight modules, totalling 16 days.
Autumn 2026: Sep 10-11, Oct 5-6, Nov 4-5, Dec 3-4 2026 and Spring 2027 Jan 25-26, Feb 24-25, Mar 22-23 and Apr 22-23 2027.

All modules are taking place at the Scool of Business Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

Fee:
89 400 SEK excl. VAT

Physical attendence is mandatory; digitial participation is not possible.

Participants must attend at least six out of eight modules to be eligible for course completion.

Programme content may be subject to minor changes.

Pedagogical model
The course is conducted through eight two-day sessions with the following general structure, which may be adjusted as needed for each module:

• Day 1, 9:00–12:00: Reflection on the previous session’s material in relation to the participant’s own organization.
• Day 1, 13:00–16:00: Introduction and theoretical perspectives on the session’s main theme, including group discussions.
• Day 2, 9:00–12:00: Guest lecture: Practitioners or researchers sharing particularly successful or challenging experiences related to the theme. Complemented with continued lectures and group discussions.
• Day 2, 13:00–16:00: Continued lectures, with a focus on clarifying the session’s assessment task.

Assessment is conducted through written reflections on the participant’s own organization, based on a chosen aspect within each of the eight themes discussed. This means that the assessment consists of eight submissions in total. Participants must submit and pass at least six out of eight assignments to pass the course.

The purpose of this assessment method is to ensure that the course remains actively present for participants throughout its duration, fostering deep reflection on their own organization in relation to the different themes.

CONTENT AND OUTCOMES FIRST CYCLE, SEPTEMBER 2026 – APRIL 2027

Module 1 – Challenges and Conditions for Healthcare: Understanding the Landscape

Directorate for the Centre for Health Governance

The module provides an introduction to the course and explores the challenges and conditions shaping today’s healthcare systems. By connecting these issues to the course’s content, a common foundation is established for participants to effectively engage with and apply knowledge from the upcoming modules.

Content

• Introduction to the course, its structure, and objectives.
• Discussion on challenges and conditions within healthcare related to the course’s themes.
• Governance of healthcare at different political levels.
• Market dynamics and macroeconomic perspectives.

Outcomes

• Clear understanding of the course’s purpose and structure.
• Insight into relevant challenges and opportunities in healthcare governance and leadership.
• A shared platform for effectively assimilating and applying knowledge from the upcoming modules.

Module 2 – Leadership, Organization, and Governance

Lecturer: Ewa Wikström

The module provides an in-depth understanding of how leadership, organization, and governance contribute to the transformation of the health ecosystem. The focus is on managing complexity, driving change, and enabling innovation.

Content

• Transformation and complexity in the health ecosystem
  • The health ecosystem’s capacity for change and societal trends influencing it.
  • Challenges related to limited resources, parallel governance models, and increased demands for performance measurement.
• Leadership and collaboration in organizations
  • Effective leadership in professional organizations.
  • Collaboration between different professions to address complex challenges.
  • Strategies for introducing and accepting new innovations and medical technologies.

Outcomes

• Enhanced understanding of how leadership and collaboration can contribute to transformation in complex systems.
• Insight into key challenges and opportunities related to governance and organization in the health ecosystem.
• Tools and models for driving change and improvement within one’s own organization.

Module 3 – Health Economic Evaluations as a Basis for Prioritization and Investment Decisions

Lecturer: Mikael Svensson

Health economic evaluations can be used to assess the cost-effectiveness of various prioritizations and investment decisions. Understanding and applying data and evidence on cost-effectiveness enable managers and leaders to make more informed decisions on how to best utilize limited resources to create the greatest possible patient benefit.

Content

• What is cost-effectiveness and how can it be used as a basis for prioritization?
• How is a health economic evaluation conducted, and how should its value and limitations be understood?
• Cost-effectiveness analyses as part of Health Technology Assessment (HTA).
• Cost-effectiveness analysis & HTA from a European perspective and implications of new legislation.
• How payment models can be used to accelerate access to new innovations while sharing risk between payers and producers.

Outcomes

• Enhanced ability to use results from health economic evaluations for decision-making, with a focus on increased efficiency in a broad sense.

Module 4 – Digitalization in Healthcare

Lecturers: Tomas Lindroth & Johan Magnusson

This module focuses on organizations’ ability to leverage digitalization effectively.

Content

• What is digitalization, and why is it so challenging?
• How to organize digitalization for transformation capability?
• How can an organization balance exploitation and exploration?
• What is the difference between digital competence and digital maturity?
• Digitalization strategy:
  • What is strategy through portfolio management?
  • What is a purposeful strategy for AI?

Outcomes

• Enhanced capability to lead digital transformation initiatives.
• Multiple examples of how organizations have managed digital transformation.

Module 5 – Improvement, Innovation, and Transformation of the Healthcare System

Lecturer: Andreas Hellström

This module provides a fundamental understanding of how improvements and innovations are developed, scaled, and sustained, with a particular focus on distributed care models.

Content

• Introduction to improvement science and innovation
• What is required to succeed with change?
• Perspectives on implementation
• Spatial aspects of development

Outcomes

• Enhanced understanding of how improvements can be driven in complex systems.
• Frameworks and practical tools for leading improvement and innovation in one’s own organization as well as in broader systems.
• Understanding the interconnection between improvement, innovation, and transformation.

Module 6 – Navigating Transformation in Complex Systems

Lecturers: John Holmberg & Johan Holmén

This module provides foundational frameworks, methods, and tools for navigating complex change processes in response to contemporary challenges and future ambitions from a learning perspective.

Content

• Introduction to system transformation, navigating complexity, transformative learning, change logics, and leadership for transformation
• Practical exercises linked to ongoing change processes, learning from other sectors
• Methods and tools: Expedition Methodology, Expedition Triangle, Back-casting, and related tools: direction, deep system understanding, leverage points
• Reflection and reflexivity from three learning levels to enhance leadership at the individual, organizational, and system levels

Outcomes

• Understand what a transformative approach to complex challenges from a transformation perspective entails
• Frameworks and strategies that provide new insights and tools for navigating transformation
• Development of the ability to transform and evolve entire systems

Module 7 – Economic Rules, Incentives, and Their Implications for Financial Governance in Organizations

Lecturer: Johan Åkesson

The purpose of this module is to create a shared understanding of the economic rules and incentives that shape the private and public sectors. It aims to provide tools for strategic financial governance in alignment with these conditions, enabling forward-looking decision-making.

Content

• The module is based on the growth model within economic theory and how an economy, i.e., an economic entity, and its resources develop over time.
• The forces influencing opportunities for economic development are described using examples from both the private and public sectors.
• Models for creating balanced economic governance that enable transformation, focusing on accountability, collaboration, incentives, and effectiveness assessment.

Outcomes

• Participants gain an increased understanding of how economic systems and models function.
• A practical framework for how to view their resources and prioritize development initiatives.

Module 8 – A Legal Perspective on Healthcare

Lecturer: Ulf Petrusson

Compliance for quality improvement and knowledge governance in healthcare.

Content

• In this module, we will, from a legal perspective, focus on how healthcare is governed, conducted, and developed at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels.
• Special emphasis is placed on how healthcare develops in collaboration with industry, universities, patient organizations, and other civil society actors.
• We will consistently focus on the digital transformation and how medical technology is playing an increasingly central role in the digital era. Special attention will also be given to the transition towards person-centered care and integrated care pathways.

Outcome

• The purpose of this module is to demonstrate how knowledge of regulations, directives, standards, routines, and other governance tools enables leadership, quality improvement, and innovation within healthcare.

Admission to the programme is subject to the following eligibility requirements and selection principles. All requirements must be fulfilled to be eligible for admission.

Meeting the eligibility requirements does not guarantee admission. The number of seats in the programme is limited, and selection is based on an overall assessment of the applicant’s strategic mandate, leadership experience, professional background, and potential contribution to the programme. Admission is granted to applicants who, in the judgement of the admissions committee, are best suited for the programme and contribute to a strong and balanced cohort composition.

1. Organisational Nomination

Applicants must be formally nominated by their organisation.

The nomination letter must clearly state, among other things:

• The nominee’s current role and responsibilities
• The nominee’s significance for the development of the organisation
• The organisation’s rationale for the nomination
• How the nominee is expected to contribute to the programme

The nomination letter must be submitted in accordance with the established template. You will receive the template via e-mail once you have submitted your application.

2. Leadership Experience

Applicants must have a minimum of five (5) years of relevant managerial and/or leadership experience.

Normally, this entails experience as a manager of managers or holding overarching strategic leadership responsibility.

In recognition of the fact that complex organisations may be structured in different ways, and that senior leadership responsibility does not always follow traditional hierarchical models, other forms of leadership experience may also be considered. This may include, for example:

• Strategic responsibility for areas where collaboration among actors within the life science ecosystem is central, or
• Documented leadership of complex organisations or cross-organisational structures, even where formal line-management responsibility has not been part of the role.

3. Professional Engagement within Life Science

Applicants must be professionally active within the life science field.

The concept is interpreted broadly and includes, for example, healthcare organisations, public authorities, academia, research infrastructure, regulatory bodies, and relevant parts of industry.

The programme aims to strengthen long-term executive capacity within the sector. Priority is therefore given to applicants with strategic responsibility for organisational development and collaboration within the life science ecosystem.

4. Academic Qualification

Applicants must hold a Bachelor’s degree (minimum 180 ECTS credits) or an equivalent international degree.

A formal academic qualification is a mandatory eligibility requirement.

5. English Language Proficiency

Applicants must demonstrate a strong ability to actively participate in advanced discussions in English and to assimilate complex academic literature and instruction in English, as the entire programme is conducted in English.

6. Admissions Interview

As part of the admissions process, applicants may be invited to participate in an interview, normally conducted online via a digital meeting platform.

The purpose of the interview is to verify that eligibility requirements are met and to assess the applicant’s suitability, strategic mandate, and fit for the cohort.

Participation in an interview, if requested, is mandatory in order to be considered for admission.