PROVIDENCE – Brown University is launching its first executive-education program, an executive master of health care leadership, to begin in August 2013.

The program is part of a university initiative to develop a series of programs in executive and professional education, school officials said.

The new master’s program seeks to prepare participants to be innovative leaders in the health care industry by giving them depth of knowledge about interdependencies in the industry that will shape its revitalization, school officials said.

The program will draw upon Brown’s strengths in public health, public policy, health economics and evidence-based medicine. The program seeks to position graduates to lead in the hospital, corporate and public sectors, and to design and deliver outstanding patient services and sustainable fiscal health for their organizations.

It’s a 16-month program that combines online learning with two 10-day and two six-day sessions on the Brown campus. Tuition is $72,000.

“Brown is making a university-level commitment to executive and professional education,” said J. Roderic Beresford, associate provost. “This first initiative seeks to create a community of leaders who can advance together on multiple fronts to grapple with critical challenges as this nation’s health care arena undergoes radical change.” •