Any Pharm.D. applicants NOT going into clinical practice?

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Is there anyone going into a Pharm.D. program or going to apply for a Pharm.D. program with a goal of not going into clinical practice?

I'm a nontraditional student working in early stage clinical drug development.

Originally Posted by ChemPharm77

Is there anyone going into a Pharm.D. program or going to apply for a Pharm.D. program with a goal of not going into clinical practice?

I'm a nontraditional student working in early stage clinical drug development.

Why don't you get a PhD instead?

Originally Posted by ChemPharm77

Is there anyone going into a Pharm.D. program or going to apply for a Pharm.D. program with a goal of not going into clinical practice?

I'm a nontraditional student working in early stage clinical drug development.

Opportunities are VERY, VERY limited if you try to go to a non-clinical route after obtaining a PharmD. After all, the practice is drug preparation & dispensing. I would say less than 1% of practicing pharmacists are in non-clinical settings.

And yes, PhD/another doctorate or Master's would better suite your needs as far as non-clinical settings pertaining to drug development and alike.

Thank you for the feedback. I'm also considering the Ph.D. as an option while I finish the prerequisites. I'm in Regulatory Affairs and a lot of people in this field have a Pharm.D. or Ph.D., even M.D. in some cases.

Originally Posted by ChemPharm77

Thank you for the feedback. I'm also considering the Ph.D. as an option while I finish the prerequisites. I'm in Regulatory Affairs and a lot of people in this field have a Pharm.D. or Ph.D., even M.D. in some cases.

Keep in mind that you can apply for research grant too as a pharmd.

You could do a dual degree.

I'm looking into UNC and VCU as a dual degree option. I spoke with VCU regarding their PK/PD program that is part of their clinic in the medical college. VCU would be my first choice for southeastern schools because of the dual degree and they have a clinic conducting clinical trials.

PCAT July 2012
GRE October 2012

Originally Posted by ChemPharm77

Is there anyone going into a Pharm.D. program or going to apply for a Pharm.D. program with a goal of not going into clinical practice?

I'm a nontraditional student working in early stage clinical drug development.

get the phd. the pharmd is useless if that is where you want to go. pharmd do not have the laboratory training for drug development in the early stages.

also pharmd is super saturated and you will be screwed. phd is free and you get stiped. do the phd

Originally Posted by PharmaTope

get the phd. the pharmd is useless if that is where you want to go. pharmd do not have the laboratory training for drug development in the early stages.

also pharmd is super saturated and you will be screwed. phd is free and you get stiped. do the phd

I think it takes more motivation than that kind of reasoning to get a phd. Also, phd is "super saturated" too.

Originally Posted by PharmaTope

get the phd. the pharmd is useless if that is where you want to go. pharmd do not have the laboratory training for drug development in the early stages.

also pharmd is super saturated and you will be screwed. phd is free and you get stiped. do the phd

here we go again...

Originally Posted by PharmaTope

get the phd. the pharmd is useless if that is where you want to go. pharmd do not have the laboratory training for drug development in the early stages.

also pharmd is super saturated and you will be screwed. phd is free and you get stiped. do the phd

This is funny. I have seen way too many Ph.D students and I can tell they would be more screwed than pharmacy students

Originally Posted by CareDD

This is funny. I have seen way too many Ph.D students and I can tell they would be more screwed than pharmacy students

Agreed. With PharmD you at least have options for clinical practice as well. PhD students don't really have a lot of other options to fall back on.

Originally Posted by CareDD

This is funny. I have seen way too many Ph.D students and I can tell they would be more screwed than pharmacy students

Originally Posted by mustang sally

Agreed. With PharmD you at least have options for clinical practice as well. PhD students don't really have a lot of other options to fall back on.

Depends on Phd but like I said, dual degree

I would recommend the pharmD/PhD route as well. If anything, it would enable you to stand out from your competition should you choose to go into clinical work.

A pharmD can also hold managerial positions. Hence, the starting of the pharmD/MBA and pharmD/MPH. This is possibility. Perhaps you could go into pharmaceutical enterprise or start up your own mail-order or retail pharmacy. With mail-order pharmacies on the rise, this may not be such a bad idea, and it'll help curb the said "saturation" in pharmacy.

For exclusive research, you would only need/want the phD. However, a safety is always appreciated.

It depends on what you want to do. If you would like to leave your options open then look into the Pharm D./ Ph. D programs. Even if there is not a set program at the school they still might be willing to work with you. I just visited Tx Tech and they were willing to work with me if I wanted to do a Ph.D. after pharm school (they said it would take 3 yrs after the pharmacy side). I personally couldn't just do the Ph.D. by itself b/c I miss working with patients too much even though I love doing research. Again it goes back to what do you want to do. I've been looking into PharmD./Ph.D schools too. If you know a good program let me know.