Dan Zhu (‘23, Data Science/Business Administration) has been selected to join the 2026 cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, a fully-endowed, multidisciplinary leadership development program for graduate students at Stanford University. Scholars, who come from around the globe, receive up to three years of financial support to pursue graduate studies at any of Stanford’s seven schools while engaging in experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders capable of taking on the world’s most difficult challenges.
Dan will be pursuing an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business and an MS in Community Health and Prevention Research at Stanford School of Medicine. He aspires to build innovative healthcare systems and technologies that improve quality of life for people and communities. After graduating from UC Berkeley, Dan worked at Boston Consulting Group to improve care and utilization management programs for America’s largest health insurers, reducing prior authorization requirements and expanding care access for 35 million people. He has also designed behavioral health systems for school districts and governments, senior care programs for community health centers, and medical practices and surgery centers in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a public speaking coach, Dan has been recognized by the National Speech and Debate Association for his achievements and service.
Below, Dan shares more about his work and what he’s looking forward to in his next chapter at Stanford.
I’m most excited about engaging deeply with the Knight-Hennessy Scholar community. Even from my first interactions at Immersion Weekend, I realized how diverse, open-minded, and authentic the community is. I’m looking forward to getting to know my classmates more, whether through global study trips and scholar retreats, or informal moments like board game nights and late-night conversations. More than anything, I’m excited to join a community that will inspire me to grow, challenge how I see the world, and hopefully become a source of lifelong friendship and support.
You are pursuing both an MBA and an MS in Community Health and Prevention Research at Stanford. Why this particular combination of degrees?
I chose a combined MBA/MS because it reflects the kind of leader I’d like to become – someone who can both lead organizations effectively and serve communities thoughtfully. I see my two programs as complementary ways to build both sides of that foundation. The opportunity to study both business and medicine also appeals to me because many of society’s most complex challenges rarely fit neatly within one field. In healthcare, for example, improving outcomes requires more than clinical knowledge or innovative technologies. It also depends on whether organizations can earn the trust of their communities, make services accessible, and sustain programs over time.
I’m grateful for my time at Cal not just because I met some of my closest friends and mentors, but because those relationships helped me grow as a person. Between my data science classes and business school community, Berkeley’s diversity of people and perspectives challenged my assumptions and strengthened my independence of thought. During my 4 years at Berkeley, I worked full-time for my family’s small business, so balancing that responsibility with two degrees deepened my understanding of purposeful leadership and pushed me to be more intentional about how I manage competing priorities. Most of all, Berkeley’s community of driven, socially conscious students shaped my sense of civic responsibility and helped me realize that with courage and intentionality, ambition can be a powerful vehicle for service.