If you're looking to enter industry without a fellowship, don't miss our newly released direct-to-industry analysis, now available on the IPhO website. From this publication, you'll learn about the roles that were most common for the 172 Class of 2023 graduates who entered industry without a fellowship, along with details about the employers that hired them.
We've shared many times that the large majority of pharmacists currently working in industry never completed a fellowship. And we continue to reinforce that fact because it's important that graduating pharmacy students know that a fellowship is not the only way to launch an industry career!
What project are you most proud of so far in your fellowship?
I am most proud of my involvement in creating a publications and scientific platform for a medical device we are looking to develop for Social Anxiety Disorder. Being able to be a co-author and a Scientific Communications lead on the development of this product’s scientific story is extremely impactful and important experience relating to the beginning of a product’s life cycle. It is exciting to get involved on a project from the beginning and it sheds a light on all the research and exchange of information it takes to understand the utility of pharmaceutical products.
Neelina Chand, PharmD, RPh, BCMAS Clinical Research Associate Parexel, Inc. LinkedIn Profile
Hi! I’m Neelina and I’m currently working in Clinical Research/Operations as a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) - Investigational Drug Monitor. This is a hybrid role that involves ~75% travel and allows work-from-home for the remaining 25% of my work hours.
Prior to this role, I had gained clinical research experience through the pharmacy program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus but lacked professional experience in clinical trial management. Specifically, I was unfamiliar with managing a clinical trial on a day-to-day basis and the CRA role was a promising path to obtaining this experience.
Dr. Daled Serrano-Bahri, PharmD Associate Director, MSL Training, Inflammation & Autoimmunity Incyte LinkedIn Profile
What was your motivation to pursue the pharmaceutical industry as a career path?
I first started my career as a pharmacy school adjunct professor at my alma mater. From there, I transitioned to clinical practice as a hospital clinical pharmacist and quickly developed passion for it. When the doors opened to transition into the pharmaceutical industry, I decided to take on the challenge. The opportunity to join a company that is committed to the relentless pursuit of science that could improve the lives of patients was exhilarating and a unique chance to expand my experience and knowledge of the pharmacy field. I was fascinated by the idea of building and fostering relationships with key experts in shared therapeutic areas to deliver scientific knowledge, while still helping patients indirectly. I immediately knew, by taking on this unique opportunity, I had a chance to make a great impact in the lives of patients with scientific innovation and research.
Talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the pharmaceutical industry; what should companies be doing to continue making progress?
This question has a two-fold answer. While it is important to continue to foster an inclusive and diverse environment within the pharmaceutical industry that supports hiring professionals from different ethnicities, cultural back grounds, languages, religions, genders, race, etc., it is far more important to support and promote growth for all of those already in the industry. This reflects the idea that growth and progress happen from within, which supports the notion that we need to embrace diversity by acknowledging and recognizing professionals in the field that bring upon said diversity.
This is done by continuously providing and facilitating the professional advancement of every employee, bridging income gaps within groups, and fostering safe environments for equal participation and growth. In summary, there must be recognition that we need to continue to work hard to level the playing field, while agreeing to promote diversity, inclusion and equity, which in the end will make for a better industry, empathizing with its own workers while also improving outcomes for our patients.
Pharmacist job satisfaction and burnout is a growing challenge to the pharmacy profession as evidenced by a growing quantity and quality of pharmacist data. Survey data from nationally conducted studies of pharmacist practice settings including community, health system, and clinical pharmacy are consistently showing between 40-60% reporting job dissatisfaction and/or burnout.1-6
There are significant concerns that this dissatisfaction may be impacting the well-being of many pharmacists and contributing to decreasing pharmacy school enrollment. It may even have the potential to impact patient safety. Some of the data indicates that over 30% of pharmacists were so dissatisfied that they were either looking to change careers or would not have enrolled in pharmacy school if they had to choose all over again.2,3 This data is very disconcerting and reflects continuing trends during the past decade. In fact, recently there have been well publicized pharmacist walkouts at some of the largest community pharmacy chains.7
Why did you choose to pursue a fellowship in Regulatory Affairs?
In my humble opinion, I believe that Regulatory Affairs is one of the few professions that plays such a critical role throughout the entire development and commercialization of medicines. The role of a Regulatory professional is the crucial link not only between the company and its products, but also for health authorities and of course our patients! Without Regulatory, life-saving drugs would not be able to get on the market and reach our patients. The broad high-level perspective on drug development from pre-clinical testing to NDA submissions all the way to commercial and drug marketing is very attractive to me, especially ensuring that the product moves forward and reaches our patients globally. I have a very detail and solution-oriented mindset as well as strong communication skills. My skillset perfectly aligned with this functional area since Regulatory is a very creative yet strategic field and contains a lot of cross-functional collaboration, as well as communication via health authorities very frequently.
We are pleased to announce that South University School of Pharmacy is the latest school to join our growing network of 100+ chapters!
Congratulations to the student pharmacists at South University! IPhO now connects them to nearly 6,000 student pharmacists with similar interests, as well as a national network of hundreds of industry fellows and thousands of industry pharmacists.
Several more schools are in the late stages of filing their chapter applications and will soon join the growing national network.
Dr. Filmon Emnetu, PharmD, RPh Global Clinical Trial Project Manager Eli Lilly LinkedIn Profile
What was your motivation to pursue the pharmaceutical industry as a career path?
My motivation to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry is rooted in my lifelong desire to make a genuine and lasting difference in the lives of patients around the world. Because the pharmaceutical sector plays a critical role in developing and delivering innovative therapies, I was naturally drawn to pursue a career in research and development. Working on phase 3 clinical trials affords me the opportunity to learn something new every day while simultaneously pursuing my goal of improving patient outcomes and health equity outcomes around the globe.
Talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the pharmaceutical industry; what should companies be doing to continue making progress?
To continue making progress in improving DEI initiatives within the pharmaceutical industry, companies should prioritize implementing comprehensive diversity initiatives, ensuring fair and inclusive hiring practices, and fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment for all employees. This includes actively seeking diverse talent, establishing mentorship and sponsorship programs for students and post-grads, promoting diversity at the leadership level, and regularly evaluating and addressing any disparities or biases within the organization. Additionally, collaboration with diverse patient communities and stakeholders can help ensure that medicines and healthcare solutions meet the needs of all individuals.
It's a busy time of the year for our IPhO coaches, as most industry fellowship program application portals have opened. Year after year, the number of fellowship positions continues to increase, and so do the number of candidates.
Soon after the launch of IPhO in October 2012, I proposed launching an IPhO coaching service. At the time, we never expected it to evolve into one of our most loved signature services—there was nothing else like it for industry-minded pharmacists! We just knew that coaching and mentoring aligned with our mission to prepare IPhO members to be the most competitive candidates possible as they pursued their pharmaceutical industry career.
Interested in learning more about the different fellowship programs offered by UNC and sponsor companies? Consider signing up for our upcoming informational webinars using the QR code or on this link:
The IPhO Annual Meeting was hosted virtually on September 8-10, 2023, with nearly 650 student registrants!
The theme of this year's conference was Learn. Grow. Find Your Place. And attendees did just that! The meeting kicked off with engaging interviews with our Platinum Sponsors, during which students benefited from a deeper dive into many Fellowship programs, application processes, qualities to emphasize in interviews, and more.
Then, Friday evening continued with IPhO organizational highlights, a feature presentation on patient diversity in clinical trials, and the fan-favorite Fellowship stakeholder panel.
Please see the statement below from AIFA, whose Member Fellowship Programs collectively offer the majority of available fellowship positions. It is not known at this time what the offer timing will be for other programs. Some may extend offers earlier, some may align with the December 13 timing, while others will extend offers later or even "off cycle."
"Recognizing that the choice of a Post-Doctoral Industry Fellowship is an important decision, members of the Academic Industry Fellowship Alliance (AIFA) have agreed to extend offers for Fellowships no earlier than December 13, 2023.'"
AIFA Member Fellowship Programs include Belmont University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, LIU Pharmacy, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS), Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Pharmacy, Mercer University College of Pharmacy, Northeastern University Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowships, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PCP) at Saint Joseph’s University, Purdue University College of Pharmacy, Rutgers Institute for Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowships (RPIF), St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina School of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (UNC, DPET), USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Wilkes University Nesbitt School of Pharmacy
"AIFA sees this respect for candidate choice as a common aspect of each of our Program’s cultures. We hope that other academic and non-academic Fellowship Programs will respect this timeline to allow for best program fit for candidates."
Morgan Loh, PharmD Global Regulatory Affairs First-Year Fellow Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease
Can you give a brief overview of your fellowship and its structure and value within your company?
The Global Regulatory Affairs fellowship at Alexion through MCPHS University is structured to give its fellows hands-on experience with a variety of regulatory specialties across several different therapeutic areas. There are three 6-month core rotations, which include Development Strategy, Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC), and Global Advertising and Promotional Compliance. In addition, the fellow can choose an elective, 6-month rotation within Regulatory Affairs, in areas such as Regulatory Labeling and Regulatory Intelligence. This allows the fellow to not only tailor their experience but also build a strong foundation as a well-rounded regulatory professional. The PharmD fellows at Alexion are widely seen as valuable assets, as we get to transfer our clinical and technical expertise to the biopharmaceutical industry setting.
Recently, representatives from the winning 2022-2023 IPhO VIP Case Competition student chapter - University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) - were privileged to attend the annual Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) Think Tank Meeting in Washington, DC, as a result of a collaboration between IPhO, BCAN, Seagen, and Astellas.
For the past three years, IPhO has partnered with organizations that are committed to the professional development and advancement of underrepresented PharmD students.
As part of this important initiative in 2023, scholarships were provided to 38 Black, Hispanic, and Native American student pharmacists, who now have access to a year of IPhO Membership, Annual Meeting Registration, and a suite of Fellowship preparation resources.
Congratulations to this year's scholarship recipients, and thank you to the generous scholarship supporters below:
Dr. Aaron-Albert Hargrove, PharmD Manager - Central Clinical Services Eli Lilly LinkedIn Profile
What was your motivation to pursue the pharmaceutical industry as a career path?
As a student, I worked in retail and hospital pharmacy. I became engrossed in various pharmaceutical journals and medical reviews. The therapeutic indications were fascinating, however, the data never reflected on the everyday population that I continuously served. So, I immediately saw a need and I knew the pharmaceutical industry is where I could make the biggest impact.
Talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the pharmaceutical industry; what should companies be doing to continue making progress?
Companies should continue advocating for DEI efforts. They need to realize that this is a movement, not a moment. Pamphlets/brochures with diverse ethnicities aren't enough. They should have diverse leadership on every level of the organization.
Dr. LaToya Benjamin, PharmD Associate Director, Medical Omnichannel & Independent Education Eli Lilly LinkedIn Profile
What was your motivation to pursue the pharmaceutical industry as a career path?
I desired a career that provided space for me to constantly evolve, impact large patient populations and have a healthy work/life balance. Endless opportunities for pharmacists within the pharmaceutical industry were the determining factor. The only limitations are self-imposed.
Talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the pharmaceutical industry; what should companies be doing to continue making progress?
Understanding that diversity includes everyone is the major key. Companies should continue to evaluate the reason and need for investment in DEI. Have those tough conversations and be vulnerable from the top down. If the desire to change is genuine to the core, the work that follows will align and eventually lead to the difference respective companies are seeking.
Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO) is pleased to announce the release of a new publication: Number of PharmDs Entering Industry Upon Graduation from 2020-2022
In 2022, 748 PharmDs entered the US-based pharmaceutical industry upon graduation. This represents more than 5% of all graduating pharmacists—and the number has been increasing each year!
