Inside the Master of Science in Law
Siblings in the MSL: Stephanie Zhao (MSL ’18) and Tiffany Zhao (MSL ’20)
November 6, 2025
When Stephanie Zhao graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Master of Science in Law (MSL) program in 2018, her younger sister Tiffany was there in the audience to cheer her on. What began for Tiffany as being a supportive sister eventually grew into inspiration that would guide her own academic path. Tiffany attended several MSL events during Stephanie’s graduation, including the school-wide Last Lecture, where Professor Stephen Reed gave a speech that left a lasting impression. “I was just so inspired,” she recalled, “He’s such a great professor.” In time, Tiffany says, she was encouraged to apply to the MSL program.
For both sisters, the program would become a defining part of their professional journeys—journeys that have taken them in very different directions.
Stephanie, now in her fourth year of orthopedic surgery residency at Oregon Health & Science University, had completed the MSL as part of her journey into medicine. For her, the program offered a foundation that continues to influence her approach to healthcare. “Having a basic understanding of the legal system and healthcare regulations is increasingly important,” she said. “As access to healthcare dwindles, doctors are often the first people patients turn to with questions.”
The interdisciplinary nature of the MSL gave Stephanie a broader view of the healthcare landscape that extends beyond clinical practice. It also helped her understand how law, business, and policy intersect with medical decision-making and patient advocacy. “Medicine is more than facts and anatomy,” she reflected. “It’s shaped by policy, by people, by resources, and opportunity.”
Beyond legal and regulatory insight, Stephanie also points to the program’s practical lessons in strengthening her communication, negotiation, and networking abilities. “They don’t teach you that in medical school,” she noted. These skills have become indispensable in the high-pressure environment of hospital work. “I actually use skills that I learned from the MSL every day,” she said. “Negotiating and advocating for patients is something I do all the time.”
Stephanie’s experience provided a concrete example for Tiffany, who started college on a pre-med track and planned to follow her sister into medicine. “I saw how much of an impact the MSL program had on Stephanie, and I felt like this would be a good experience for me, too,” she said. Tiffany entered the MSL program in 2019, months before the pandemic began.
Like Stephanie, Tiffany found the MSL program to be transformative. Unlike her sister’s experience, however, Tiffany’s experience in the MSL completely reshaped her career trajectory. “After my corporate criminal law class, I had an epiphany; I went up to Leslie, the director of the MSL program, and said, ‘I think I want to do my JD,’” Tiffany recalled. Today, Tiffany is a second year JD student at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, planning to pursue a career in biotech and healthcare law. The MSL, she said, became the bridge between her early scientific interests and a growing passion for the law, helping her discover a new way to combine analytical thinking with advocacy.
Each of the Zhao sisters found in the MSL program an education that connected law, science, and society in ways that were meaningful to them as individuals. The common foundation the Zhao sisters built at Northwestern Pritzker Law (and throughout their lives) has set the stage for their next chapters, where each will make their own impact on the world—Stephanie in the operating room and Tiffany in the courtroom.
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