FDA, NIH, CDC, Industry, R&D, pharmacotherapy

[kitkat06]

Hi there,

Are there any Pharm.Ds working in the FDA, NIH or CDC or drug industry in the areas of drug safety, drug R&D, clinical trials or pharmacotherapy who is willing to discuss about the nature of and education requirement for their line of work? I am from an rural setting and am having difficulties locating local pharmacists practicing in specific area of pharmacy I am most interested in. I have talked with some community pharmacists, but they admitted that they do not know too much regarding a pharmacist's full scope of and training/experience requirement needed to work in areas outside of retail (ie. regulatory affairs, governmental agencies, clinical trials, etc.) When asking about my ability (capability and authority-wise) to pursue my professional dreams with a pharmacy education, I was told by one of the pharmacists that he was not aware of any pharmacists doing research on vaccine development, that this is more of a M.D. domain. For those already practicing, how true is this statement? and not particularly of vaccine R&D, but of bench, translational and clinical research in general? I understand that a pharmacist's role is expanding in the health care field (or so that's what AACP said... but to what extent? and just how receptive are the public & scientific and medical community of this change?) that even though Pharm.Ds could be PIs, I don't seem to be able to find too many as the head of projects, whereas I could easily find ones headed by M.Ds and Ph.Ds in medical literatures. Maybe I just haven't been looking long enough. Is it because there is much resistance from the other members of the scientific/research/grant community? That perhaps the education one attains from pharmacy school is not adequate for the research track? that you could only go so far with a Pharm.D degree? Or simply that while research pharmacists are fully capable to carry out such positions, not many choose to do so because of other perhaps more appealing economic incentives? I guess what I am really interested in knowing is - is there a glass ceiling in terms of what you could do with a Pharm.D? Or is it really what you make of the degree? If the latter is the case, I am carving my own niche Am I being naive and fanciful here? Can I get a professional's opinion on this?

Thanks in advance

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[vida]

I do not have much information about all the positions you are looking for.I believe all these are very competitive positions.

But for sure drug industry has many PharmDs who does bench work and clinical trial work. But again to my understanding the entry level positions only with pharmD is difficult I guess, unless you want to work in sales and marketing.
If you do fellowship or residency, can look into more options in real research or clinical trial development even in hospital setting. You can also look in to regulatory affairs, I guess this needs some 10 month law training(I am not sure for this 10 month law).

A regular hospital pharmacist can also be a part of clinical research.

I have a friend who works in immunology dept at NIH. He did his rotation and after graduation he was just absorbed in to the dept. he do bench work.

They say word goes by knowing a person in higher position or by a word of mouth from a friend of a freind of a friend....

Getting a foot inside for the first time is difficult but it gets easier and easier if you want to switch indutries later on.

I don't know where you are located but best locales for industry would be around atlanta, NJ, IN, MA, PA, CA. hospitals anywhere and NIH/fda I guess around MD DC.

 

[cdpiano27]

I am pursuing PhD in statistics, but I interned last summer at NIH / NHLBI and this summer I am leaving today to go to Sanofi-Aventis. Yes, the pharmacists do have significant roles in industry, but usually more so with a PhD in pharmaceutics rather than a PharmD.

The PharmD's usually go and get an MBA and go into marketing.

If you want this track, the choice of school is VERY important. You need the school that offers the right connections. I highly recommend UNC-Chapel Hill, UCSF, UCSD, Buffalo (especially), Michigan, Rutgers (can't get in unless from high school), etc.

The biggest area for pharm companies is PA, and NJ (which is where I am headed right now!!)

My aunt is a pharmacist and her boss has been on the alumni committe at UF so I know a few things. The connection and getting into the RIGHT pathway is very important in FDA / pharmaceutical industry. Be sure to choose the right school otherwise you will definitely be disappointed.

 

[denalirx]

I am a pharmacist and will be completing my residency at the end of the month. I will be starting a fellowship program in july which will be about 80% research. I have many colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry and some do clinical research...you may want to look into the fellowship programs offered jointly by Rutgers and many of the companies...

Please PM if you have any specific q's about roles for PharmDs in research..

good luck

 

[xml2]

so MCP-boston will not get me the right connection I need?

I am pursuing PhD in statistics, but I interned last summer at NIH / NHLBI and this summer I am leaving today to go to Sanofi-Aventis. Yes, the pharmacists do have significant roles in industry, but usually more so with a PhD in pharmaceutics rather than a PharmD.

The PharmD's usually go and get an MBA and go into marketing.

If you want this track, the choice of school is VERY important. You need the school that offers the right connections. I highly recommend UNC-Chapel Hill, UCSF, UCSD, Buffalo (especially), Michigan, Rutgers (can't get in unless from high school), etc.

The biggest area for pharm companies is PA, and NJ (which is where I am headed right now!!)

My aunt is a pharmacist and her boss has been on the alumni committe at UF so I know a few things. The connection and getting into the RIGHT pathway is very important in FDA / pharmaceutical industry. Be sure to choose the right school otherwise you will definitely be disappointed.

 

[kitkat06]

if someone were to work in industry, would they have much difficulties switching to the public sector (FDA, NIH, CDC, etc)? because of previous association with companies and therefore possible conflict of interests? Likewise, would one encounter difficulties going from government organizations to the private sector in terms of securing a job position, since the objective is more financially driven than one's previous more humanitarian background?

Thanks

 

[kiwi61385]

bump

 

[cdpiano27]

I can speak for biostatistics but it should be the same for pharmacy.

I know that a LOT of people work at FDA-CDER and then go to industry (pharmaceutical company) a few years later. The FDA experience is actually seen as top-notch. You know what EVERY company is doing. Hence there are several people that go from FDA to industry.

In fact, I have two internships one at NIH the other in industry. And either experience is seen as really good for the other.

You CAN easily go from FDA / NIH -> pharm company
or
pham company -> FDA / NIH

At least in biostatistics it is that way.

Maybe for pharmacy I could be wrong.