IPhO News

Based upon the exponential growth in the number of Industry Fellowship Programs for PharmDs, it is not surprising that the IPhO Industry Fellowship Catalog has become one of the most valuable and frequently visited resources that IPhO provides. It is the only place candidates can find relevant information describing almost every Industry Fellowship offered in the US.

For each fellowship program, the IPhO Industry Fellowship Catalog lists the name of the sponsor company, affiliation (if any), fellowship types offered, and the program website/brochure/contact information.

IPhO recently introduced Industry Fellowship Catalog Version 3.0, with better functionality, more information, and easier user-friendly navigation. Candidates can now search by sponsor, affiliation, or fellowship type, which makes it easy to find only fellowship positions that are of interest. In addition, IPhO has simplified the fellowship search process by creating 16 common search terms that group “like” positions/functions that offer similar experiences for the fellow. For example, searching for the suggested key term “Clinical Research” will return results for Clinical Research, Clinical Development, Clinical Pharmacology, and several other similar position titles. In the past, candidates would have had to search each of these position titles independently, so it is now much easier and less confusing.

As the quantity and variety of industry fellowships continues to grow, the process of identifying, evaluating, and applying for these positions has become increasingly complex for candidates. Not long ago, the number of companies sponsoring fellowships could be listed on a half-page. In 2016, there are now over 50 different company sponsors. Many sponsors offer multiple fellowship positions within their company and a number of the larger sponsors affiliate with more than one university. Fellowship sponsors now include all key segments of industry, including Big Pharma, Biotech, CROs, Generics, OTCs, Medical Advertising, Medical Communication, and Consulting companies. The positions are also diverse, ranging from traditional functions like medical affairs, to commercial functions like marketing, market research, new product planning, and business development.

As a student pharmacist and fellowship candidate, I could not imagine a more useful resource in preparation for the strenuous application and Midyear process. Not only do we have few opportunities to learn about industry pharmacy and fellowship positions while in school, our academic and rotational workload does not leave ample time to navigate the increasingly complex fellowship evaluation, application, and interview process. I personally have used this resource as a learning tool. The IPhO Fellowship Catalog design has allowed me to both sort and search for specific programs of personal interest. There is a good mix, and learning more from program brochures can help you narrow down the type of program that best suits your interests and experiences. The brochures are eye-catching and informative, and I have learned so much from reading through them. Descriptions of each fellowship type, including pictures and testimonials from current fellows, have played an important role in envisioning myself in those positions.

Please note that host companies vary on the timing and frequency of revising their fellowship brochures. IPhO monitors industry fellowships on a continuous basis for new sponsoring companies and brochure revisions. We welcome your assistance in keeping the Catalog as current and accurate as possible, so please email any updates to: support@industrypharmacists.org .

Authored by Rosemary Boshar, IPhO National Student Officer, Scholarly Activities

MCPHS Worcester, Class of 2017

Fellowship Catalog 3.0 Project Director

Company and Department: The Medicines Company, Global Health Science Center

Current Role: Director, Global Health Science

Alma Mater: Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University 2009

The PharmD degree can lead to a variety of professional opportunities. While this can allow someone to be creative with their career, it can also be overwhelming as one approaches graduation. Before I had entered pharmacy school, I worked at a local pharmacy. While I enjoyed the patient interaction, I was also curious about the companies that developed the drugs used by patients. After entering pharmacy school, I earned different internships for companies such as Ranbaxy, Wyeth (now Pfizer), and Schering-Plough (now Merck) and networked with pharmacists in those companies to learn about their career paths and how they got there.

As I approached graduation, I knew that I would pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry. I attended Midyear and interviewed for an industry fellowship. While the program was very selective, I too was selective with who I would entrust my career with. I applied for two positions, but was unable to secure a fellowship. I stayed positive and knew that there were other ways of getting a position in the industry as demonstrated by other pharmacists that I had networked with. I used the extensive preparation for interviewing for Midyear and applied for positions, including contract positions. While contract positions ranged from 6 months to 2 years, I saw this as an opportunity to experience a position with the flexibility to potentially change my path (e.g. work in drug safety for six months, then maybe medical information for 6 months).

IPhO is pleased to announce the addition of two new local chapters to our growing national network.

Congratulations to student pharmacists at the University of Houston and the University of Charleston. IPhO now connects them to a national network of 3,000+ student pharmacists with similar interests, as well as a national network of 360+ industry fellows and 9,000+ industry pharmacists.





Several more schools are in the late stages of filing their chapter applications and will soon join the growing national network.

To start a chapter at your school, visit here.

For the student benefits of joining IPhO, vIew the National Student Brochure here!

Fellowship Sponsor Company: Johnson & Johnson Consumer (USciences)

Function/Discipline: Regulatory Affairs and Medical Information

Fellowship Years: 2016-2017

Alma Mater: University of the Sciences, Class of 2016

I recently graduated from a six-year Doctor of Pharmacy program at the University of the Sciences with a minor in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business. Classically, I worked at a community pharmacy throughout school and was not initially aware of the career options available to me outside of the traditional retail realm. Progressing through my years as a student, I gradually began exploring these options by working at both the University of Pennsylvania, in a pharmacy laboratory to conduct research, and also Acro Pharmaceutical Services, a specialty pharmacy. I was also actively involved with several organizations on campus, including: American Pharmacists Association (APhA), Drug Information Association (DIA), and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA).

Fellowship Sponsor Company: Bristol-Myers Squibb (Rutgers)

Function/Discipline: Oncology Medical Science Liaison, Medical Information, Clinical Trial Operations

Fellowship Years: 2015-2017

Alma Mater: University of the Sciences, Class of 2015

Having grown up in a low-middle income family out of Jersey City, NJ, I didn’t know much about what existed in the professional world. This simple upbringing presented me with a few challenges when I started working with professionals during my P4 year. Thinking that was tough, imagine then how I felt at the ASHP midyear meeting with hundreds of suited candidates just like myself, all prepared with their binders and their interview game faces. However, what I quickly realized was that I was just as qualified as any other candidate. Moreover, if I was going to stand out, I would have to be someone that nobody else could be. Myself. Only then did I find the program that fit my personality and one whose objectives were in line with my own.

On Friday, October 14, 2016, pharmacy students from around the country attended Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ on site visit and networking event in Cambridge, MA. The site visit included speakers from different departments, who discussed their background, role, the company, and the PharmD Fellowship Program. Among the current Alnylam PharmD Fellows is second-year Medical Affairs fellow, Alex Wei, who is pictured here at the far left. Alex served as the first IPhO National Student Officer (NSO) from 2014-2015, and currently serves as Co-Chair on the IPhO National Fellows Council. Since Alex’s term as the sole NSO, the number of National Student Officer positions has grown to six. Three of the current NSOs had the opportunity to meet with Alex during this event, and are pictured here from left to right: Lanny Nguyen (Social Media and Marketing), Rosemary Boshar (Scholarly Activities), and Bridgette Tran (Chapter Network Management).

The 2017-2019 Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Northeastern University PharmD Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program is currently offering positions in Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, and Health Economics and Outcomes Research. For more information and to apply, please visit this link: IPhO FellowMatch

Company and Department: Astellas, Medical Affairs, Americas
Current Role: Associate Director, Medical Communications
Alma Mater: Midwestern University, Chicago College of Pharmacy, Class of 2005

During pharmacy school, I developed a strong interest in clinical pharmacy and academia. In addition to completing the standard coursework, I served as the liaison between our class and the faculty to facilitate communication of course concerns and questions. I also collaborated with a faculty and a pharmacy resident specializing in psychiatry on a research project where I assisted with screening the study patients against the inclusion criteria. I began to evaluate career pathways that would help me prepare for academic pharmacy.

Upon graduation, I participated in a PGY1 residency at the North Chicago VA Medical Center in North Chicago. After completing the residency, I accepted a faculty position at Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy and practiced as a clinical pharmacist in the Internal Medicine unit at the North Chicago VA Medical Center. I gained valuable direct patient care experience, precepted pharmacy students and residents, and taught in the pharmacotherapy course at the University. To further advance my professional development, I also obtained a board certification for pharmacotherapy (BPS).

Fellowship Sponsor Company: Celgene (Rutgers)

Function/Discipline: Health Economics Outcomes Research

Fellowship Years: 2016-2018

Alma Mater: University of Maryland-Baltimore, Class of 2016

Similar to many students starting pharmacy school, I had experience in the community pharmacy setting, some knowledge of the role of pharmacists within a hospital, but knew little else about the range of career opportunities available to pharmacists. The summer after my first year of pharmacy school, I had the opportunity to participate a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research program which opened my eyes to research that occurred outside of traditional lab settings and exposed me to ways my pharmacy training could be utilized to understand and influence patient care at a population level. I continued to learn about ways pharmacists could affect the health of populations by participating in the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) competition and completing an AMCP/Pfizer managed care summer internship. The internship introduced me to some of the roles a pharmacist could hold within the pharmaceutical industry and solidified my decision to pursue a nontraditional pharmacy role.

Jerry Silverman, RPh, CCP, IPhO VP, Professional Development & Coaching

Recently, I had the pleasure of coaching a young highly motivated and committed professional industry pharmacist who wanted to change industry tracks to eventually pursue opportunities in marketing.

For me, it’s always important to take the necessary time to thoroughly understand my clients’ professional background and history before moving on to establish appropriate short, medium, and long term career goals. He had strong clinical and analytical experiences throughout his pharmacy rotations and was able to secure a 24-month contracted position in drug safety upon graduation. Now as he began to explore new industry opportunities, it became clear that he was drawn to job positions in marketing and where there was significant scientific, clinical, and creative collaboration. In discussing this with him, I impressed upon him that going directly from a clinical position to marketing would require a step wise approach encompassing one or two progressions to make it possible.

I recommended that he open his search to medical communications and pharma advertising companies who are built around developing scientifically accurate, clinically appropriate creative messages that support the marketing of pharmaceutical products. Being a part of this type of organization in any function would be an important step in building his foundation in healthcare marketing.

Next, we re-worked his CV/ Resume, as it was not generating any leads. We customized, and translated his key experiences and skills to specific language and likely responsibilities within an agency's organization.

This required a few sessions together online and a lot of back and forth e-mail. But the results were worth it as he got a lot of traction from prospective employers in a short period of time.

Everything came together at one time as phone and online interviews occurred that led to onsite interviews and multiple offers. We prepared for his interviews and reviewed multiple offers with regards to their quantitative benefits and more importantly which offer would best put him on the right track to achieve his longer-term professional goals.

Often times my coaching will begin and end with revising a CV/Resume, but in this case and to my pleasure, the client wanted my help to also target specific types of companies, prepare for interviews, and evaluate job offers.

While there are never guarantees when using any type of service, I am committed to providing expert and thoughtful one-on-one attention and appreciation for my client’s hopes and dreams every step of the way!

IPhO is pleased to announce the addition of seven new local chapters to our growing national network.

Congratulations to student pharmacists at the pharmacy schools/colleges listed below. IPhO now connects them to a national network of 3,000+ student pharmacists with similar interests, as well as a national network of 360+ industry fellows and 9,000+ industry pharmacists.

Next week we will hold a national webinar for all 40 chapters to introduce new local/national tools and resources for the 2016-17 academic year!





Several more schools are in the late stages of filing their chapter applications and will soon join the growing national network.

To start a chapter at your school, visit here .

For the student benefits of joining IPhO, vIew the National Student Brochure here!

Fellowship Sponsor Company: Myers and Stauffer, LC

Function/Discipline: Pharmaceutical Pricing

Fellowship Years: 2016-2017

Alma Mater: Butler University, Class of 2016

Zack McCormack, PharmD Candidate 2017

Purdue University College of Pharmacy

IPhO National Student Officer of Chapter Development

Now, perhaps more than ever, the pharmaceutical industry is in a state of flux. With increasing pressures to bring medications to market swiftly and cost effectively, companies are looking for ways to more efficiently navigate the drug development process. Therefore, it is not surprising that Contract Research Organizations (CROs) have experienced an increase in popularity. CROs offer the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries support in the form of a multitude of outsourced, research services spanning the full range of the drug development and approval process. The CRO market has more than doubled since 2007 and by 2020, the percent of pharma companies planning on sharing trial design responsibilities with CROs is expected to go from its current rate of 17% to over 50%.^1,2 Therefore, it is important to analyze how CROs assist pharmaceutical companies in drug development.

Luke A. Zack, PharmD Candidate 2017

Wilkes University, Nesbitt College of Pharmacy

Regulatory Affairs Intern, Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

IPhO Senior Intern

A strong regulatory strategy is key to maximizing a product’s commercial success, optimizing the sponsor’s drug development efficiency, and enhancing credibility with regulatory agencies. So what tools are used to help build this vital strategy?

Developing a successful regulatory strategy requires the ability to research, review, create, propose, defend, and negotiate key regulatory positions to support product development, approval, and lifecycle management activities in global markets. An efficient regulatory strategy provides direction to support key planning, operational, and financial decisions critical to the sponsor. More importantly, an effective regulatory strategy can provide faster entry into the market while simultaneously providing evidence of meeting efficacy, safety, and benefit-risk standards.

On June 27, 2016 IPhO student pharmacists from Touro College of Pharmacy-New York attended the DIA 2016 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. This interdisciplinary event brought together professionals from industry, academia, and government agencies. Over 100 students from around the world submitted abstracts and only 27 students were selected to present their posters.

IPhO student pharmacists Adam Chin and Jeffrey Sniggs presented "Analysis of Postmarket Safety Labeling Changes: Comparison of Expedited Versus Standard NDA Approvals," and IPhO student pharmacist Christopher Milan presented "Factors That Affect Market Share of Biosimilars Against Reference Biologics."

We are pleased to formally introduce our 2016-17 National Student Officers. As IPhO continues to grow, nearing 40 Student Chapters, the national organization has also grown in the leadership that supports our national student chapter network, expanding from one national student officer in 2014-15 to three in 2015-2016 and now to six national student officers for the 2016-17 term.

The goal of increasing our organizational leadership is to be able to work more closely with our student chapters to build thriving, highly knowledgeable, and well-prepared industry communities at all pharmacy schools.

Please join us in welcoming these talented student leaders to our growing team!

2016-17 IPhO National Student Officers

Bridgette Tran
Chapter Management
MCPHS Worcester, Class of 2017
bridgette.ipho@gmail.com

Nicholas Heath is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Takeda Pharmaceuticals in the Global Pharmacovigilance department. As a member of the MCPHS University Biopharmaceutical Industry Fellowship program, he has taken the initiative to be involved in numerous committees, scholarly publications, and in May 2016 was appointed executive board President. Inspired by the work he has been involved with at Takeda, Nick will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to support the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF). Other participants include multiple myeloma patients, caregivers, and health care professionals.

Mt. Kilimanjaro reaches 19,341 feet and has various climates, wildlife, and hiking conditions for participants to overcome. The hike up the mountain will take just over 6 days and over 60 guides, porters, and local staff. Nick will be one of two Takeda representatives hiking the mountain, following in the footsteps of Ryan Cohlhepp, Takeda’s Vice President of U.S. Marketing, who completed the hike in January 2016 with the MMRF.

Nick has been involved with fundraising for the MMRF since the beginning of his fellowship and constantly finds ways to support a cause that is close to home. Whether it has been a road race, obstacle race, or even hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, Nick seems to push through the challenge to support those that each event will benefit. As an industry pharmacist, he is able to see how R&D can impact entire patient populations in need. Events like these, either nationally recognized or individually organized, provide support to patients battling disease. As a member of the MMRF Team for Cures, Nick hopes to fundraise over $20,000 to support research being done in multiple myeloma as well as support his teammates, some of which are myeloma patients, up Mt. Kilimanjaro next February.

Please contact Nick at nicholas.heath@takeda.com if you are interested in learning more about his hike and would like to support him.

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.

As the 2015-16 academic year draws to a close, IPhO would like to express its sincere thanks to the three National Student Officers for their outstanding contributions to the organization.

Kimberly Gittings, PharmD

University of Rhode Island

National Student Officer, Chapter Management

Vineeth Nair, PharmD

Northeastern University

National Student Officer, Chapter Development

Sean Harrison, PharmD

Virginia Commonwealth University

National Student Officer, Professional Development

Their notable accomplishments include: (click or tap "read more" below)