Combining a Pharm career with a biology career, can it be done?

[Paulz]

The field of pharmacetuicals really interests me but I also have a real interest in things like marine biology and animal studies and that area of biology. I was wondering if I could combine the two areas that I really like into one career. Or maybe work as a pharmacist and then as a biologist on the side or something like that. I know this wouldn't work in medicine but can it work any way in pharmacy?


Thanks

Paulz

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[FarscapeGirl]

The field of pharmacetuicals really interests me but I also have a real interest in things like marine biology and animal studies and that area of biology. I was wondering if I could combine the two areas that I really like into one career. Or maybe work as a pharmacist and then as a biologist on the side or something like that. I know this wouldn't work in medicine but can it work any way in pharmacy?

I would say probably not in the way you're imagining. I am currently a grad student in molecular biology, and research is an all-consuming job. It'd be hard to work part time as a scientist, as you wouldn't get much done. If you worked full time as a scientist and worked in community pharmacy part time, it'd be hard to get off to do your pharmacy work. I've gone to work planning on spending six hours on my experiments, but something goes wrong and to not throw away two weeks of work, I stay for ten hours.

You can certainly get a PhD/Pharm D. Those individuals do research with a pharmacy perspective, and it sounds like a good job for someone with your interests.

I originally went into grad school because I liked science. However, I found out I didn't much like research (you can spend months, even years on a project and find out all that work didn't get you much). I have friends that love it though, and live for that thrill you get when you find out something no one else knows. I'm now planning on going into pharmacy because I really want to do patient care. I think it'd be a great fit for me.

I'd suggest figuring out which you like better, research or patient care. If you love research, go ahead and go for a PhD. Look into what kinds of biology really interest you, and then let that determine what field. If you really like health care research, then think about getting the PhD and the PharmD. You could always quit research and work just as a pharmacist (although if you leave research for too many years, it can be hard to get back into it, apparently).

I don't know if you've done this yet, but pick up either Nature or Science and flip through it. Even Scientific American would work. Figure out which articles you like reading. That would be the kind of research you'd probably like the most.

 

[RxWildcat]

We have some equine pharmacies here which specialize in compounding animals for horses. There are opportunities like what you are thinking of, however they are few and far between. I think something to ask yourself is do you have more of an interest in the biology or in pharmacy. Pharmacy in general is pretty diverse so you could definitely try out different things if you don't want the stereotypic pharmacist job. How far along are you with pre-pharm? Are you sure that pharmacy is what you want to do?

 

[Paulz]

I am freshman going on Sophomore and a Biology major. I am just banging out simple reqs right now that are universally needed, like Bio, Chem, Microbio, physiology, calc, all that good stuff. I don't know if I want(or will have the grades for) medical or pharmacy or animal work. There are a ton of pros and cons and things I like and don't like about all of them. I know it's impossible to combine medical with animal work(unless you become a vet), but maybe with pharmacy I could.

Right now I am volunteering in a hospital, going to do some work with animals in South America, and next summer/winterum will try to get a job or shdaow a pharmacist.

 

[RxWildcat]

Are you against becoming a vet? It seems to me that you love animals, and there are definitely career paths in pharmacy that would allow you to work with animals, but like I said before, they'll be pretty hard to come by.

 

[Farmercyst]

Oregon State has a Vet school and a Pharm school on the same campus, you could see if they do any collaborative research. Just a thought. Other schools may have similar environments, but OSU is the only one I know anything about, though my knowledge of them is rather limited as well.

 

[Paulz]

What about a biologist and a pharm tech? Would that make a difference?

 

[RxWildcat]

You mean be a tech instead of a pharmacist? Well yeah, that would make quite a bit of difference.

 

[Paulz]

Could you balance that with research and stuff or biological work?? I don't know much about pharmacy techs and the nature of their work.

 

[mrblah]

Could you balance that with research and stuff or biological work?? I don't know much about pharmacy techs and the nature of their work.

a pharmacy technicians duties have nothing to do with research. A pharmacy technician is what its title implies it. You basically are a clerk with state/gov. clearance to handle medication under the direct supervision of a pharmacist in a pharmacy or hospital environment (not including techs who train other techs in a academic setting). You cannot write drug recipes, you cannot interpret or consult what a medication does. You cannot give out medical advice, etc. You cannot work unsupervised. To become a technician, requires very little or no training (depending on state) vs. a pharmacist. Also, pharm techs don't get paid very well (depending on where you live) nor is there any upward mobility and very limited skillsets that you pick up. Imho, its a decent job to gain some experience, but its a lousy job if you plan on doing it as a career. When I worked as a technician for the last 10 years or so prior to getting accepted to pharmacy school, and let me tell you something, I would not do it again (well not for 10 years).

What you may consider is a dual pharmd/phd degree, but I don't know if you will work primarily with animals, although it may be possible (i.e. developing medicine that may be invaluable to both humans and animals).

 

[mike36]

Many medications for animals have to be compounded by a pharmacist. You could work as a compounding pharmacist for veterinarians. I am not sure if you would actually get to work with the animals though...sounds like you might want to be a vet. If you want to do the compounding, then you need to be a pharmacist.

 

[OasisDwlr]

Look into veterinary pharmacy. UCSF has a rotation site at UC Davis that a lot of people do because of the vet pharm program.