IPhO News

Company and Department: GSW Advertising, inVentiv Health

Current Role: Associate Scientific Director

Alma Mater: Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University 2013

During the spring of 2016, I came to a pivotal place in my career path and decided to engage a professional coach at IPhO.

The IPhO Coaching Service helped me clarify my early career goals, customize my CV, review potential positions, and navigate the interview process including reviewing specific job offers.

Jerry Silverman, BS Pharm, RPh and VP of Professional Development and Coaching helped me to thoroughly analyze my professional interests and to establish appropriate short, medium, and long term career goals. I had strong clinical and analytical experiences throughout my pharmacy rotations and was able to secure a 24-month contracted position in drug safety after graduating from pharmacy school. While I could have built upon this initial industry experience to secure another similar position, it became clear to me that I desired to switch tracks and pursue new opportunities in marketing and collaborating with scientific, clinical, and creative teams. In discussing this with my coach he impressed upon me that going directly from a position such as drug safety to marketing was nearly impossible and that we would need to methodically identify the steps over the next several years to make that possible.

Company and Department: Allergan, Medical Affairs

Current Role: Medical Director

Alma Mater: Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University 2002

Entering pharmacy school, a career in the pharmaceutical industry was not on my mind. During my 4^th year, I realized that I would be interested in a non-traditional role for a PharmD, and I sought out some recent graduates to learn more about potential pathways. I also diversified my experiential rotations as much as possible and spent my “off cycle” at a pharmaceutical company. At that point I knew I wanted to work in the pharmaceutical industry.

Company and Department: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Medical Contact, Content and Insight (MCCI) Contact Center

Current Role: Medical Information Manager-Oncology

Alma Mater: MCPHS University, Class of 2015

Like a growing number of student pharmacists today, I was intrigued to learn about the different roles that pharmacists could hold in industry by the end of P2. I grew to like the idea of pursuing a non-traditional pharmacy practice career and began looking into opportunities to get exposure in this field of work. I was very fortunate to be able to participate in two pharmaceutical industry rotations through my school, MCPHS University in Boston. These APPEs were very competitive to secure and gave me the experience I needed to help me decide which commercial industry function I wanted to pursue. Most importantly, it gave me confirmation that industry was where I wanted to be.