Both are suitable for PharmDs. Pharmacovigilance, or PV, was (and still is in some companies) a division of RA that's become more its own separate niche discipline. That said, the 2 departments still work together a lot.
Here are some observations:
- Both areas are quite broad and have several sub-areas that people specialize in. For example, in PV there is case processing, medical assessment, compliance & training, aggregate reporting, clinical study safety operations, signal detection/risk-benefit management, safety data management...and then you have might see some extra roles like project management, strategy, and of course people who are focused on the leadership/people management track (but they have usually developed through the other areas). Another way to think of it is there are 2 main areas - operational vs. strategic, or individual contributor (functional expert) vs line management. There is a somewhat of a glass ceiling in PV - MDs tend to be favored for the highest paying and lead decision making positions in clinical/medical areas. Sometimes that extends to overall leadership too - MDs just inherently carry more weight when dealing with medical monitors, and clinical groups.
- Similarly, RA has operational vs strategic roles. What you do within RA can vary greatly - Labeling, Strategy/Program Management, CMC, Submissions, etc. I think you mentioned you'd be doing submissions. This role is pretty operational and might get old fast, but I guess it depends on what you make of your situation that determines whether it's pigeon-hole or a foot in the door to a great opportunity. It's the same for PV. People get pigeon-holed into case processing for 20 years without ever moving into other areas.
- Both RA and PV can be high visibility, lots of pressure, and high stress. But it's a different kind of stress from retail pharmacy.
- Because having a MD doesn't make a difference in RA, I guess you could say that a PharmD can go very far in RA. In general, I've seen PharmDs in RA go through promotions faster than PV.
- There's currently a decent demand for both, but RA might be more. With people exploring automation, some operational roles in PV may be replaced by automation within the next 10 years (I hear it's already started in some large companies).
- The learning curve for both are steep, and the first year or few can be very tedious work. I think it might be worse for RA than PV. But, you have to do the tedious work to build the foundation for later. Medical Information, on the other hand, tends to be more "relate-able" to PharmDs and less of a learning curve. Not much in Pharmacy school or retail/hospital really translates to PV or RA though. Med Info experience translates to PV/RA in limited amounts. This steep learning curve is exactly why experienced PV or RA professionals are valued though.
