Featured Alumna: Dora Zhang (HKUST Part-Time biweekly MBA, Class of 2024)
It was tough, but that course completely changed how I think. In pharma industry, bringing an innovative drug to market takes around ten years. The MBA forced me to think a decade ahead rather than just focusing on the next deal on my desk.
After 13 years in pharmaceutical business development, Dora Zhang (HKUST Part-Time Biweekly MBA Class of 2024) had built a successful career. She understood how to close licensing deals and navigate complex healthcare partnerships, yet she also felt the limits of staying within a familiar functional lane. In an industry shaped by long development cycles and fast-moving global markets, she wanted to move beyond execution and learn to think more strategically about long-term business growth.
I had a solid foundation in my industry, but I knew I needed to step out of my box. I wanted to build a strategic mindset and take on broader management. The real question wasn’t just what job I wanted next, but who I wanted to become as a leader.
She chose the HKUST Part-Time Biweekly MBA, committing to two intense years of balancing a full-time career with weekend classes across cities. The format was demanding, but it gave her exactly what she was looking for: a learning environment that stretched her beyond familiar industry thinking and challenged her to see business decisions from a broader leadership perspective.
One of the turning points came in a Venture Capital class, where Dora had to evaluate the healthcare sector not as a dealmaker, but through the eyes of an investor weighing risk, portfolio balance, and capital allocation. It was unfamiliar and challenging, but it reshaped how she connected scientific innovation, commercial timing, and global opportunity.
Equally valuable was the peer learning that happened outside lectures. Her classmates and Alumnis came from finance, technology, entrepreneurship, engineering, and other industries, each bringing a different way of reading the same business challenge. Through case discussions and weekend exchanges, Dora found herself questioning assumptions she had carried for years and building a more flexible way to solve problems.
It wasn’t only about what professors taught us. It was about learning from the people around you and seeing how they solve problems.
That wider perspective soon translated into career mobility. After her graduation, she made an leap from one of China’s leading pharmaceutical company into global corporate development, joining Accord Healthcare as Head of Business Development, China. Her focus shifted from licensing foreign assets into the domestic market to helping connect Chinese healthcare innovation with international markets across a network spanning more than 85 countries.
For Dora, the MBA gave her a broader business language, sharper cross-market judgment, and the confidence to move from deal execution into global leadership. For professionals weighing the commitment of an MBA, Dora does not sugarcoat the effort required.
There is never a perfect moment,” she says. “I was exhausted, flying back and forth, and barely had a personal life for two years. But when the right opportunity came, I was ready. The biggest regret is when an opportunity arrives and you’re not prepared to grab it. Start by asking yourself who you really want to become.
Her story is a reminder that growth often begins before the next title or role appears. By widening her perspective first, Dora was ready to meet a larger stage when it arrived.