Continuing with our series highlighting the thought leadership of MSL alumni, students, and faculty, we turn our focus to the recent work of alum Ekene Onwubiko, a 2024 graduate of the MSL program. Ekene is currently an M.D. student at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her article “Open Data, Closed Doors?” argues that regulatory ambiguity related to the integration of electronic health records has impeded innovation in the development of web and mobile apps that could improve patient outcomes and drive efficiency in healthcare. Ekene’s article, published in the Regulatory Review (a leading publication from the Penn Program on Regulation) was one of the Review’s most-read pieces in 2024.

We caught up with Ekene to ask her about her article and the role that the MSL has played in her professional development.

MSL: You earned a biology degree from City College of New York; you have held research positions at the Emerson Lab and with Memorial Sloan Kettering, worked as a medical assistant in Nigeria, and you shadowed and volunteered as a patient ambassador in New York. What led you to enroll in a law program?

EO: My research on health disparities during college opened my eyes to how policies affect healthcare in minority communities. This sparked my interest in learning about the legal space so I could better advocate for patients as a physician. I was also drawn to the business side of medicine and wanted to explore that path. When I saw that the MSL offered courses in both of these focus areas, it felt like the perfect fit for combining my interests.

MSL: What role did the MSL play in your writing of the piece on healthcare technology and regulation? Did you gain any skills, knowledge, or confidence that helped spur you to write?

EO: The MSL program taught me how to effectively understand and communicate across both legal and business contexts, giving me the confidence to publish a piece like this. The Regulatory Policy course I took was especially valuable to me in writing this article. Through that class, I gained deep insight into law and regulation, and I learned how ambiguity in laws can have widespread effects, often preventing regulations from achieving their intended purpose.

I wanted to explore how these regulatory challenges specifically impact healthcare. This led me to investigate and write about Electronic Health Records regulations; my article analyzes how legal uncertainty affects real-world healthcare delivery and technology implementation.

MSL: What are your plans for the future, and how has the MSL played a role in helping you develop/define them?

EO: I want to be a healthcare professional who is involved in healthcare policy. As the socio-political landscape changes, the importance of advocacy on behalf of our most vulnerable populations becomes more apparent. My legal foundation, combined with my healthcare expertise, will allow me to better address systemic barriers and inequities in healthcare delivery.

I am also particularly drawn to healthcare innovation – I have plans to found a healthcare startup in the near future. This interest was sparked through the business-related classes in the MSL program that gave me real insight into the process of being involved in a business. My analysis of EHR regulations has highlighted both the challenges and opportunities in healthcare technology implementation. This insight will be extremely valuable as I work to develop solutions that improve patient care and healthcare accessibility.

MSL: Do you have any thoughts about the value of a legal master’s degree for a person like yourself who is at the start of their medical career?

EO: The MSL degree has given me the confidence to pursue opportunities I might have otherwise hesitated to take on. Understanding the legal framework of healthcare has empowered me to engage in discussions and projects that bridge medicine and law – like writing about healthcare technology regulations, working briefly for a medical device start-up, and being one of the med/law coordinators for my medical school’s asylum clinic. Where I might have previously stayed in my lane as a medical professional, I now feel equipped to contribute meaningfully to policy discussions and entrepreneurial ventures.

The degree itself carries significant weight – when I speak about healthcare regulations or policy issues, having the MSL – an established law degree from Northwestern’s Law School – adds credibility to my perspective. It signals that I bring both medical knowledge and legal understanding to the table. This dual expertise has opened doors and conversations that might not have been accessible with just my medical background alone.