Doctor Marika Östman applied for leadership skills in an MBA degree

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree gave Marika Östman the management tools she needed and the confidence to set up her own psychiatric centre.

Text: Mari Loikkanen, photo: Marika Östman

Already while working as a chief physician in Turku University Hospital, Marika Östman had her sights set on studying for an MBA in Business Management. At that time she was responsible for the neuropsychiatry department and her work included administrative tasks.

− When I started as the head of the adolescent psychiatry unit, I had more than 50 direct subordinates and was responsible for two big multi-million projects. I felt that I wanted to learn more skills for leadership. My work had a lot of content outside the medical profession, such as human resource management, budgeting and project responsibilities, for which I wanted tools, says Östman.

Östman describes that medical directors often lack training in these issues. The MBA in Business Management at Turku UAS in English provided Östman with the skills needed for administrative work. She felt that she benefited in particular from the courses on leadership and project management.

− The most fun and rewarding part of the studies was a course led by Keijo Varis on future operating environments. There we thought about what the world will look like in the future, discussed megatrends and how to analyse the future from the perspective of our own work. Anticipating the future was really fun and thought-provoking, she says.

During the studies, there was additional literature offered to read, which Östman read independently. This enabled her to supplement the areas of her own interest.

− Overall, the MBA studies were rewarding and stimulating. I liked the study style, which involved group work in Teams. In this way, we did not work alone, but complemented each other’s skills.

The students included people from different fields. Östman thinks that networking and sparring with them was important.

Towards a sustainable workplace

Östman’s thesis was about how to make psychiatrists enjoy their work and stay in their jobs. She wanted to find out how to create a sustainable workplace. It was a subject close to her heart, as she had been thinking for a long time about psychiatrists’ coping at work and how the employee’s performance could be administratively supported.

− It’s not just the salary that makes people happy at work, but also good management, values, the opportunity to do one’s work ethically and well, and the opportunity to adjust working hours according to one’s own life situation, all play a significant role, she says.

Östman wanted to create a workplace based on her values, where she and other professionals in the field would enjoy themselves until retirement.

The MBA gave her the confidence to open her own psychiatric centre. The Neuronovum psychiatric centre, founded by Östman, opened its doors in Turku in November 2025, the same year she completed her degree.

− Without the management skills I gained from my MBA, I wouldn’t have gone into this, she says.

The MBA in Business Management provided the skills needed for administrative jobs.

For Östman, it is important that all recipients of the centre commit to common values. The goal is a workplace where everyone is happy and well.

− Our aim is not to maximise profits, but to provide a high quality service at reasonable prices. We genuinely want to help people and we want to do it in the most straightforward process possible, without unnecessary visits. Equality is also important to us, she sums up.