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MBA for Executives
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Student Diary: Michelle Leff

Dr. Michelle Leff

Dr. Michelle Leff

Deputy Clinical Director
National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH

Michelle travels two hours door-to-door to the Wharton campus. She lives in Baltimore, MD., with her husband, Bruce Leff, who is an associate professor of geriatric medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and two daughters, Julia, age 10, and Emily, age 8. As a psychiatrist working as the deputy clinical director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, NIH) Intramural Research Program, she is involved in the administration of projects and programs supporting clinical research, and the management of personnel who work in the clinical research program.

Week One
Week Two

Week One
Thursday
6:00 a.m. Wake up, have coffee with Bruce, do some housework, and get the kids ready for school.
7:30 a.m. Drive the kids to school. We spend the ride to school reviewing spelling words, math facts and talking about whatever is on their minds.
8:20 a.m. Get to the office. We are moving into a new building in spring 2007. Today is spent in meetings about the building, mostly. Our weekly staff meeting is on Thursday. I spend some of the day working through problems presented in the meeting. Have one quarterly staff meeting — this one with our biostatistician. Colleague calls me for a ride home (her car is in the shop). We leave work, and spend the time in the car talking about subject recruitment strategies and our screening protocol. I drop her off at the auto shop and head home
5:30 p.m. Bruce and the kids are already home. We have dinner — the kids are excited about their book purchases at the school book fair earlier today.
6:30 p.m. Pack for the Wharton Exec MBA weekend then get ready for a meeting at our synagogue.
7:00 p.m. Read work e-mails.
7:30 p.m. Julia and I attend the first of her Bat Mitzvah planning meetings.
9:00 p.m. Get home, tell Bruce about the meeting, and try to study Macroeconomics, but get side-tracked by Prof Meyer's Web Café postings of several Bernanke talks. For someone who knew nothing about macroeconomics before this term, I am elated that I can follow one of the talks and understand the general concepts. This is a sign of the excellent teaching at Wharton.
11:00 p.m. Go to sleep.
Friday
5:00 a.m. Get up, make coffee, and read macroeconomics for an hour.
6:00 a.m. Get ready.
6:30 a.m. Talk to kids about their day. The 2nd grade is performing parachute routines for the parents and entire Lower School. Emily is so excited about this. Bruce has the video camera and is going to attend. I am so sorry to be missing it. Julia has a French skit today, which will be videotaped.
6:45 a.m. Leave for train station.
7:10 a.m. Board train at cafe car, see classmates. One woman just got married and shows us the wedding photos. Get ideas from classmates about study strategies for upcoming macro final exam.
8:45 a.m. Arrive at SCC, check in, check mail, and socialize. Good to see classmates -- everyone seems to be doing well
9:30 a.m. Stats with Prof. Waterman (multiple regression)
12:30 p.m. Lunch with classmates and a Wharton Exec MBA 30 student who is interviewing for jobs. We talk about curriculum; he gives us advice.
1:30 p.m. Finance (Macroeconomics) with Prof. Meyer
4:30 p.m. Management (Leadership) with Prof. Useem. It's Sponsor's Day, so there are lots of sponsors and a guest lecturer, Larry Zicklin (lively, heated discussion re: business ethics, corporate culture, loyalty, etc.).
6:30 p.m. Call home and talk to kids about their school day/performances. Parachute routine was a success. Walk with group to University Museum, a beautiful setting for cocktails and dinner. Conversations about the cases discussed in leadership, real estate investments, Wharton Exec MBA graduate get-togethers.

Peter Capelli is the evening's keynote speaker. While he was talking, I looked around the room — saw my classmates and professors listening. We are seated in a huge space, with artwork at the ends of the hall. It is an impressive place, I am enjoying the talk, and I realize that one year ago, I was applying to the Wharton Exec MBA program. I almost can't believe I'm here. I feel very lucky.
9:45 p.m. Walk back to SCC. People are congregating to go out to drink, talk, etc. I am tired, so I head back to my room. Answer work e-mail, beg off making a work call (I e-mail instead) and try to relax. Often, when I'm alone on these Friday nights, I think a lot about Bruce and the kids. For some reason, I am thinking about Julia and her Bat Mitzvah and how time is passing far too quickly.
11:15 p.m. Go to sleep.
Saturday
6:00 a.m. Alarm rings, quick e-mail check, computers in the SCC rooms are great.
6:15 a.m. Get to the fitness center, run for an hour on treadmill (all the while fuming that I made the wrong decision and should be running OUTSIDE. This decision is tempered by watching a good program on the civil rights movement as I run)
8:00 a.m. At breakfast, talk to classmates about different learning styles, the dinner last night (everyone enjoyed it), and call family to say hello.
8:30 a.m. Catch the last half of a macroeconomics review.
9:00 a.m. Last Macroeconomics class. As Prof. Meyer ends the lecture, we applaud to show him our appreciation.
12:00 p.m. Lunch. Prof. Meyer joins a group of us, and we discuss the real estate market in Manhattan.
1:00 p.m. OPIM — learning about variability in waiting and service processes. Prof. Terwiesch teaches a great class. We discuss the Beau-ties case.
4:30 p.m. Catch train back to Baltimore with classmates.
6:00 p.m. HOME! Bruce and the kids had a great day — warm weather. Emily got a special award at her last soccer game. We have dinner and I tell the kids about the University Museum.
7:00 p.m. Watch the video of Emily's parachute routine — lots of spirited singing, dancing. Emily is thrilled to see the video.
8:00 p.m. Housework, changing sheets, laundry, kids get ready for bed.
9:00 p.m. All four of us (and the cats) lying together on our bed, listening to Emily read aloud the last chapter of a book we've been reading. Kids go to bed.
10:00 p.m. Organize notes/books, etc. for the next two weeks. Catch up with Bruce.
11:00 p.m. Go to sleep.
Sunday
6:15 a.m. Alarm's off for the weekend. I hear Emily scampering around the house, and I get out of bed so Bruce can sleep in. We have coffee (me) and hot cocoa (Emily) at the table and chat. She is talkative even early in the morning. We read another American Girl book about Molly, fix breakfast for the girls, and Bruce goes for a run (in honor of the NY marathon today, which will start soon). We get ready for the kids' religious school and take down Halloween decorations outside.
9:15 a.m. Drive kids to religious school.
10:00 a.m. Bruce goes to hospital to visit one of his patients. I study OPIM for next session.
12:15 p.m. Kids and Bruce are at home, and we eat lunch.
1:00 p.m. Go shopping for kids' clothes and other errands.
4:00 p.m. Emily not feeling well.
5:00 p.m. Early dinner.
6:00 p.m. Kids shower, get ready for bed, usual pre-bedtime reading with the kids, relax, and read the paper.
9:00 p.m. No studying tonight, Bruce and I discuss contingency plans in case Emily is too sick to go to school.
11:00 p.m. Go to sleep.
Monday
5:15 a.m. Get up and check e-mail. Continue with the marketing assignment
5:00 a.m. Wake up. I'm feeling sick. Read Macro for 45 minutes.
6:00 a.m. Emily wakes up -- she is sick. Bruce and I make plans for the day.
7:30 a.m. Drop Julia off at school, and I'm feeling sicker as I drive.
8:10 a.m. In the office for the morning — rescheduling meetings, getting promised documents out, catching up with a colleague re: Friday's events (since I was at school), etc. Surprise phone call from college room-mate, Martha Ortiz (WG'92), who lives in Philadelphia with her family. She was a Wharton Exec MBA 16. We catch up, talk about some of the professors who taught her and are still teaching. She doesn't understand how I can juggle Wharton and life (she was a single 29-year-old when she went through the program). We laugh at the stories about our kids. It's nice to hear how happy she is with work and love. We promise to get together one of the Wharton weekends.
11:00 a.m. Drive home to relieve Bruce, who leaves for his clinic.
11:45 a.m. Working from home, but also resting. I slept from 12:40-2:20. Emily is less sick than I am!
3:30 p.m. Pick up Julia at carpool (read the answers to Macro midterm while waiting).
4:00 p.m. Emily and Julia doing homework. A study team member (Vik) sends me a copy of his distilled macro notes and his regrets for missing our conference call on Wed. (his wife is out of the country for business).
5:00 p.m. Early dinner so that Julia can get ready for fencing lesson.
5:15 p.m. Bruce takes Julia to fencing and attends a get-together at his Division Director's house. I stay home, clean up, do laundry, and play/read with Emily until bedtime. I am making much better progress getting through the American Girl series than I am with my distillation of Macro notes, I realize.
8:00 p.m. Emily in bed, study Macro until 10:00.
10:00 p.m. For some reason I have the holidays on my mind — family visits, gift lists…sleep.
Tuesday
6:00 a.m. Wake up, still feeling sick.
6:30 a.m. Kids up, both doing well, decide to send both to school.
7:30 a.m. Drive kids to school.
8:15 a.m. In the office for brief (and not-so-brief) meetings with physician assistant, physician, executive assistant, and projects manager. Long conference call with our remote HR consultant about personnel issues. Meet with the head of IT to work out problems with our clinical webpage and our electronic medical records system.
12:30 a.m. Leave for a meeting in Rockville (quarterly meeting with the Deputy Director of NIDA).
1:40 p.m. Arrive for meeting and re-group with my colleague, the Clinical Director.
2:00 p.m. Meet to discuss new contract, scientific collaborations; discuss frustration with the bureaucracy and the roadblocks in getting IRB agreements in place.
3:30 p.m. Drive home, listening to NPR, answering pages, calling into the office — notebooks for next week's review of clinical program at National Institute of Aging (NIA) have arrived.
5:00 p.m. Arrive at home, kids and Bruce arrive shortly thereafter. Dinner. Evening is spent helping kids with homework assignments and talking to them about weekend plans.
8:00 p.m. Kids are in bed, so it's time to study. Work on Macro, read terrific leadership article.
11:00 p.m. Go to sleep.
Wednesday
5:30 a.m. Get up and read before the kids awake. Bruce goes to the pool to swim.
6:30 a.m. Getting ready for the day with the kids.
7:20 a.m. Drive kids to school.
8:15 a.m. In the office, quickly grab the projects manager and executive assistant, unload the notebooks delivered last night, make plans to assign sections for our group to review (we are reviewing the NIA's clinical research program on Monday), and meet with people about the review.
11:00 a.m. Meeting with my "mentor," who is an experienced administrator and AO of the program. I discuss with her my concerns that some projects are not on track. She has good ideas about how to approach the problems. I feel much better after leaving her office. Odds and ends all day — people come by to talk about the review. I never get a chance to read my sections of the review.
5:00 p.m. Leave work to pick up the kids, get home, do housework, prep for tomorrow.
6:00 p.m. Dinner. Discuss with Bruce the issues at work. The kids want to talk about a good book (Julia) and American Girl (Emily).
8:00 p.m. Kids in bed, study Macro.
9:00 p.m. Conference call to discuss ideas for Stats project — adolescent smokers dataset vs. U.S. oil rig count. The latter wins out. Discussion about the project, another problem set assignment. One of our team members is changing jobs in late November, and we tease him about fitting in several life-changing events in one year (starting an MBA program, having a baby, and changing careers--not just jobs)…
10:00 p.m. Read leadership case, go to sleep.

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Week Two
Thursday
4:45 a.m. Wake up, drive to the pool.
5:15 a.m. Look at e-mails while waiting for the pool to open — study team members (Rob and Walt) have e-mailed with project ideas and data. Great!
5:30 a.m. Swim a mile, using the flip turn that classmate taught me in Mike Useem's pool last summer. I must be doing something wrong — it seems to add to my time instead of help my time. Need to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
7:10 a.m. In the office, call home to arrange tonight's pick up of kids with Bruce. Start reading notebooks for review, weekly staff meeting — jovial group, meet with exec asst who is taking off a few days next week, meet with new medical officer to discuss strategy for new recruitment design, work on employee performance plans. Senior investigator in the program stops by to talk about some frustrations with bureaucracy.
4:00 p.m. Talk to a teen who wants to participate in a smoking cessation study but may have a medical condition that would disqualify her.
5:00 p.m. Someone stops by and tells me that we were visited by the FDA — there is a recall on specific needles and PCA systems. Work with Scientific Director's assistant to get information out to everyone.
4:30 p.m. Leave the office.
6:30 p.m. Dinner with the family, get the kids ready for a sleepover tomorrow evening, and housework. Too tired to study -- Bruce and I discuss travel plans.
10:30 p.m. Go to sleep.
Friday
5:20 a.m. Wake up. Bruce goes to the pool.
6:30 a.m. Kids up and getting ready for school.
7:30 a.m. Drive kids to school.
8:00 a.m. DAY OFF (Veteran's Day) — good day to study.
3:00 p.m. Pick up Julia and friends from school, and drive them to a friend's farm for sleepover party.
4:30 p.m. Drive to the pool, swim a mile.
6:00 p.m. Home. Bruce and I go to the movie theatre, have crepes before the show, view "Good Night and Good Luck" — very good film — courageous group of people, very timely film.
10:30 p.m. Home. Go to sleep.
Saturday
7:15 a.m. Bruce and I sleep in, have coffee, and plan the day. Bruce is on call this weekend. He leaves to go to the pool, and then spends the day at the hospital.
8:00 a.m. Go grocery shopping for the week.
9:00 a.m. Read rest of leadership case (Schwab).
9:45 a.m. Pick up the kids from a sleepover, take Julia to her tennis lesson, and shop at Target for household items with Emily. Pick Julia up from the tennis courts.
Bring the kids home, feed them lunch, and drive Julia to a friend's house for a play date. Come home and make a big pot of black bean stew for dinner (and to freeze for future dinners). Bruce comes home early from the hospital. Emily too tired to go to tap lesson, so we stay home.
4:30 p.m. I drive out to my parents' new house (about 30 min. away) to check the house and get the mail.
5:45 p.m. Home. We have dinner, and for the first time all day, the four of us are together.
7:30 p.m. Sit down to study, kids in bed early (they are tired). It's too hard to concentrate — get about hour studying done — spend most of my time e-mailing thank-yous and checking out dance classes for Emily, etc.
10:30 p.m. Read leadership case (eBay) and fall asleep by 11:00 p.m.
Sunday
7:00 a.m. Hear Emily wake up. Bruce gets up with her and allows me to sleep in.
7:45 a.m. I get up. The kids are awake. We get the kids ready for religious school.
9:15 a.m. Bruce drives the kids to school and then heads to the hospital. I spend the quiet time drinking coffee and studying Macro.
11:45 a.m. Leave to pick up the kids.
12:15 p.m. Home, make lunch, and deliver neighbors' orders of gift wrap (Julia and Emily's school fund-raising project).
2:00 p.m. Kids and I go to the pool. They swim in the recreation pool while I swim a mile. After showers, I suggest the bookstore and the café nearby. We run into a former nanny -- talking to her brings back wonderful memories of when the girls were younger.
5:30 p.m. Have dinner.
6:30 p.m. Kids playing. Get ready for the week — Bruce and I review our work schedules for the week and decide drop-off/pick-up schedules, etc.
8:00 p.m. Kids in bed. Bruce and I plan Thanksgiving dinner and relatives' visits tonight because I will be at Wharton all weekend (going to Gettysburg on Sunday), and Bruce leaves for Italy on Thanksgiving evening.
10:00 p.m. Tired, go to sleep.
Monday
4:45 a.m. Alarm rings, sleep for another hour.
5:45 a.m. Finally get up, have coffee, and look at one or two problems on old macro finals.
6:45 a.m. Spend time with the kids as they wake up and then leave for the office.
7:15 a.m. Get to work, e-mail, mail, paperwork, and try to get things sorted out before we go to the site visit.
8:30 a.m. Leave for site visit.
12:30 p.m. Return, catch up with admin assistant, jot notes down from the visit, talk to colleague about problems with a contract.
3:30 p.m. Pick up the girls, work from home the rest of the afternoon, answer e-mails, review documents, kids do homework, early dinner.
6:00 p.m. Bruce takes Julia to fencing. Emily and I work on Thanksgiving decorations for the table next week, She is excited about seeing her grandparents and cousins.
8:15 p.m. Julia comes home. Put her to bed.
8:30 p.m. Study for 90 minutes.
10:00 p.m. Go to sleep.
Tuesday
5:00 a.m. Wake up, get a cup of coffee, and drive to the pool.
5:30 a.m. Swim a mile -- easy, refreshing swim.
6:45 a.m. Back home, take the kids to school.
8:00 a.m. Work at home in the morning.
12:00 p.m. Drive to work, catch up with projects manager and one of the assistants; meet with an administrator to discuss an employee problem; and work on performance plans for two new hires.
4:00 p.m. Teleconference into an NIH meeting.
5:45 p.m. Meeting is over -- go home.
6:30 p.m. Dinner with the family. Help Emily create a clothespin doll while Bruce helps Julia with her homework.
8:30 p.m. Kids finally in bed. I get ready for study group conference call.
9:00 p.m. We discuss stats problem set, electives.
9:30 p.m. Read paper in bed. Go to sleep.
10:00 p.m. Finish up loose ends for the problem set, Emily's lessons, and organize my work for tomorrow.
Wednesday
5:00 a.m. Bruce gets up to go to the pool.
5:30 a.m. I get up, make coffee, and answer e-mails.
7:45 a.m. Drive the kids to school.
8:15 a.m. Working from home today. Answering e-mails, on the phone with a colleague, problem with a contract (don't have a good handle on the players nor the problem), issue of credentialing, last chance to study macro when things are quiet, e-mail group about new member joining in winter — everyone very enthusiastic about inviting her to join our group.
3:30 p.m. Pick up Julia's books from bookstore, pick kids up from school, and study macro notes while in carpool line.
4:00 p.m. Julia's orthodontist appointment.
4:30 p.m. Getting dinner ready and answering work e-mails.
5:30 p.m. Dinner with the kids, clean up.
8:30 p.m. Kids in bed. I sit down to study, but I'm too tired. Talk to Bruce about weekend and getting ready for Thanksgiving.
9:30 p.m. Go to sleep.
Thursday
5:00 a.m. Wake up, drive to pool.
5:30 a.m. Swim a mile, shower, and go to work.
7:00 a.m. In the office, meet with assistant to go over today's schedule. Review contract document in preparation for conference call later today, edit/finish my two-week diary for Wharton, weekly meeting with medical officer, weekly staff meeting, conference call, meeting with our IRB administrator to discuss problems with submissions to other IRBs, and rounds, then a colleague and I talk about the problematic contract and ideas to push our part along.
4:30 p.m. Leave work. Want to see Bruce and the kids and spend time at home since I'll be leaving for Wharton early Friday morning. Hope to study macro and stats for a little bit tonight.

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