Biotech and pharma requires some research expertise. The people I know in these fields had either done serious lab work or gotten PhDs.
One that we can get into fairly easy is device work. There’s plenty of companies making new LMAs, monitors, vents, etc that if you have some expertise in these areas you can easily start consulting or even go work for the company full time.
Hospital admin is probably the easiest route. I have never met a surgeon or anesthesiologist in academics who got an MBA and failed to get put into a leadership role that reduced their clinical FTE to 0.4 or less, no matter how incompetent or unfit for leadership they were. With even a minimal amount of ambition or geographical flexibility these individuals all eventually become at least VPs in hospital systems. Keep in mind that those jobs don’t pay that much more than clinical jobs until the higher levels, but you won’t have the stress of the OR or call.
