How is career trajectory impacted by spending a few years in a life sciences or healthcare consulting role post-MBA vs going directly into the industry?

Assuming you have not worked in industry yet, it may impact where, within industry, you work. Consulting gives you some great skills but you end up lacking the day-to-day operational skills (managing 150 call center agents, knowing what to do if a MA calls out sick). As a result, I’ve seen consultants take on internal project/ program management roles, corporate “strategy” positions, “innovation”, etc instead of the Department Administrator/ Service Line lead roles (not to say someone that started in industry can’t take on the roles consultants take on). Overall, it’s more about the skills you develop while consulting vs skills you develop when in industry.