A Doctor’s Comeback Story, Career Break, Role Pivot, IIM Ahmedabad

When Manik, an MBBS physician, first reached out, his profile felt a little stuck. Not weak, not lacking, just… disconnected. He had stepped away from clinical practice to prepare for the UPSC, which in itself takes a huge amount of discipline and intent, but it hadn’t worked out the way he had hoped. And getting back into clinical roles after that was not straightforward either. An MBA after a long 13 year career raised questions, and somewhere along the way, it had started to dent his confidence.

Once we got deeper into discussion helping him data mine, what stood out to me was nothing about his journey was ordinary but he wasn’t able to articulate it the same way. And that’s where a lot of strong applicants quietly struggle. Top Business schools are used to people taking risks, trying things, even failing at times. What they really care about is whether you understand your own journey and can make sense of it.

After UPSC, instead of forcing a return into clinical medicine, he moved into pharmacovigilance and research. Over time, he grew into a leadership role as Deputy General Manager, working on drug safety, regulatory frameworks, and some genuinely high impact projects. One of them involved an organ transplant device for patients with end stage lung diseases, something that could directly influence survival outcomes. That kind of work does not come easy, and it said a lot about his ability to operate in complex, high stakes environments.

Our role was really to help him see the thread that was already there.

We spent time unpacking each phase. His clinical experience, his UPSC preparation, his transition into drug safety and research. Slowly, the story started to come together, as a progression. A doctor who had seen patient care up close, taken a step back to understand systems and policy, and then moved into roles that looked at healthcare through data, safety, and scale. Once that clicked for him, things became much easier.

The outcome followed and eventually a feature on Poets & Quants as part of the MBA Class of 2025.