Are residencies basically a pre-req for getting into a fellowship

[p-rog]

Hi, I've been doing some looking into about going into an industrial clinical research fellowship after pharm school and I'm trying to get an idea of whether or not a residency is essentially a requirement to get accepted into a fellowship. All the schools that I have looked at online for these fellowships say that they "prefer applicants to have completed a residency but will consider those without one". My question is, are they only considering graduates who didn't complete a residency beforehand if they are the top-of-the-class-perfect 4.0 gpa's-tons of organizational involvement-super amazing type of candidates for these positions or can someone like me who made above average grades (like a 3.5 gpa) and perhaps has done a bit of clinical research with profs at his pharmacy school have a shot of getting into one of these fellowships without doing a residency first. I only ask because I'm more than willing to complete a 2 year fellowship after graduating to get into the type of clinical research position that I want to make into my career, but when you start taking into account the possibility of having to add an additional 1-2 years for a residency before that, it starts to make me question whether it's really worth it or not. I mean to think I could be in rigorous school/training for an additional four years while all my peers in pharm school are out practicing and presumably enjoying life is a pretty depressing thought.

Even if you don't know the answer to my question, any input or thoughts on the matter is appreciated.

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[janeno]

I think having an extensive research experience while in pharmacy school would help you to get a fellowship without a residency.

 

[Hels2007]

Hi, I've been doing some looking into about going into an industrial clinical research fellowship after pharm school and I'm trying to get an idea of whether or not a residency is essentially a requirement to get accepted into a fellowship. All the schools that I have looked at online for these fellowships say that they "prefer applicants to have completed a residency but will consider those without one". My question is, are they only considering graduates who didn't complete a residency beforehand if they are the top-of-the-class-perfect 4.0 gpa's-tons of organizational involvement-super amazing type of candidates for these positions or can someone like me who made above average grades (like a 3.5 gpa) and perhaps has done a bit of clinical research with profs at his pharmacy school have a shot of getting into one of these fellowships without doing a residency first. I only ask because I'm more than willing to complete a 2 year fellowship after graduating to get into the type of clinical research position that I want to make into my career, but when you start taking into account the possibility of having to add an additional 1-2 years for a residency before that, it starts to make me question whether it's really worth it or not.

I think it depends very much on the program, and your best bet it to speak to the programs you are considering directly. The only programs for clinical research that I am familiar with did not require residency. The ones through Rutgers University I think prefer candidates without one, and then there was a program from North Carolina, don't remember the school or the company, I met them at the PPS a few years back, they were at least willing to consider candidates without residency, as did the program through Thomas Jefferson.

I would say that research experience would be a large plus for you, especially if you present a poster or get published. Another plus would be anything that shows you to be self-motivated and able to balance multiple commitments at the same time/manage long-term projects.

 

[Unraveling]

My friend did a one year fellowship with Rutgers right out of pharmacy school. I think if you already know this is what you definitely want to do and you have some research background and can express your ambition and goals clearly through your application/interview you have a good chance. BE POSITIVE

 

[p-rog]

Thanks for your responses.

But now I sort of have a follow question. I have already started doing some research with a professor at my school and he told me (without being prompted in any way) that I would be able to publish a paper by the end of my third year (I'm a P2 now) if I continued to do research with him. The only problem is that we're researching antibiotic drug synthesis in his lab and there's really nothing clinical about it. I'm wondering if it's a good idea for me to commit to continuing the research with this professor that I've already established a relationship with since he's essentially guaranteed me that I'll publish a paper with him, or whether I should seek out professors who are doing more clinically orientated drug research and just hope that I'll be able to publish a paper with them.

The risk of choosing the latter is of course that I may not be able to publish that paper with the clinical research prof and that could hurt my chance of getting accepted to the fellowship. On the other hand, the potential downside of only doing drug synthesis/med-chem research (even with a published paper) is that it isn't exactly the type of previous research experience that a pharmaceutical company/school would be looking for in a candidate for a clinical research fellowship.


So, which option would you choose to pursue if you were me?

 

[p-rog]

BE POSITIVE

My dad gave me the exact same advice yesterday. Maybe there's something to that...

 

[Unraveling]

If it were me I'd stick with the professor and project I started. You can still assist with other clinical research on your rotations and your loyalty to the first professor who offered you work says a lot about your character.

 

[Hels2007]

But now I sort of have a follow question. I have already started doing some research with a professor at my school and he told me (without being prompted in any way) that I would be able to publish a paper by the end of my third year (I'm a P2 now) if I continued to do research with him. The only problem is that we're researching antibiotic drug synthesis in his lab and there's really nothing clinical about it. I'm wondering if it's a good idea for me to commit to continuing the research with this professor that I've already established a relationship with since he's essentially guaranteed me that I'll publish a paper with him, or whether I should seek out professors who are doing more clinically orientated drug research and just hope that I'll be able to publish a paper with them.

I would stick with the current project. If you have good working relationship with the professor, he is likely to recommend you to one of his colleagues working on a more clinical projects, so you are very likely to get some hands-on clinical experience, plus you get a publication. And likely a great letter of recommendation as well. Can't beat that package.

And a lot of skills/qualities that the programs look for are transferable. Soft skills are infinitely more important than specific bits of knowledge. You can teach someone what IRB is and how to write a protocol. You cannot teach someone to be inquisitive, or be logical, etc.

 

[p-rog]

Very good points from both of you. Thanks.

 

[p-rog]

In case anyone else cares, I just found this pretty interesting article that is really relevant to this thread:

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.or...s_issues/articles/2007_06_15/caredit.a0700085

 

[DHG]

Thanks for your responses.

But now I sort of have a follow question. I have already started doing some research with a professor at my school and he told me (without being prompted in any way) that I would be able to publish a paper by the end of my third year (I'm a P2 now) if I continued to do research with him. The only problem is that we're researching antibiotic drug synthesis in his lab and there's really nothing clinical about it. I'm wondering if it's a good idea for me to commit to continuing the research with this professor that I've already established a relationship with since he's essentially guaranteed me that I'll publish a paper with him, or whether I should seek out professors who are doing more clinically orientated drug research and just hope that I'll be able to publish a paper with them.

The risk of choosing the latter is of course that I may not be able to publish that paper with the clinical research prof and that could hurt my chance of getting accepted to the fellowship. On the other hand, the potential downside of only doing drug synthesis/med-chem research (even with a published paper) is that it isn't exactly the type of previous research experience that a pharmaceutical company/school would be looking for in a candidate for a clinical research fellowship.


So, which option would you choose to pursue if you were me?

I think you should ask around and see what other options are available. If you want patient contact in clinical trial/investigational drug setting, then you should do this. Don't spend 2 years doing something you are not particularly interested in just to get published. You can likely get published doing something you'd rather be doing. If your school is associated with an academic medical center, go make friends with the director of clinical research there and ask if there are any current pharmacy fellows that could use assistants. Also talk to the director of the investigational drug service for leads as to who might be interested in taking on a research assistant. Ask other faculty (do you have an advisor?) which faculty members are doing a lot of translational/clinical research and then go talk to those people.


You will be miserable if you spend the next 2 years doing something you are not particularly interested in. You won't be doing anyone any favors. Go do what you want.

 

[p-rog]

I think you should ask around and see what other options are available. If you want patient contact in clinical trial/investigational drug setting, then you should do this. Don't spend 2 years doing something you are not particularly interested in just to get published. You can likely get published doing something you'd rather be doing. If your school is associated with an academic medical center, go make friends with the director of clinical research there and ask if there are any current pharmacy fellows that could use assistants. Also talk to the director of the investigational drug service for leads as to who might be interested in taking on a research assistant. Ask other faculty (do you have an advisor?) which faculty members are doing a lot of translational/clinical research and then go talk to those people.


You will be miserable if you spend the next 2 years doing something you are not particularly interested in. You won't be doing anyone any favors. Go do what you want.

I've been thinking about this a lot for the past couple weeks and I decided to contact some other profs that may be doing more clinically oriented research just to see what other opportunities are available to me. That being said, I have been told that very little clinical research actually occurs at my school's campus. This is most likely because the only hospital associated with the school is attached to a satellite campus of the pharm school that's 2 hours away and there aren't any pharmaceutical companies in the area. My plan as of now is to take whatever experience I can find in clinical research at my school while still continuing to do the antibiotic synthesis research with the professor that I've already started working with. At this point, that seems like the best idea. After that, I can try to find some clinical research rotations for when I'm a P-4. Hopefully if I get some good rotations in industry, some decent sporadic clinical research experience at my school, and a solid publication doing synthesis research, that will be enough for me to be a competitive applicant for a clinical research fellowship.

 

[p-rog]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=422094

^ I'm linking that thread because it has tons of information about fellowships and other topics for anyone else interested in going into Industry.