MPH courses AND industry??

[some1likeu]

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Hi all,

I am a p3 student in an institution strong in the medical sciences. I was somewhat interested in the idea of research, but didn't know what was involved. I was more intrigued by the areas of public health and clinical pharmacy. I had this humanitarian, idealized dream of what I could do with my pharmaceutical sciences and supposedly stronger medical sciences knowledge after graduation. I picked this school because I felt it would offer a broader prospective of heath care, and was not so concerned that its pharmaceutical sciences is not as strong/recognized.

Well, i look some courses of a more humanitarian perspective, and while they were informative, eye-opening and made me feel like there are much to change in this world, I realized that it is too much of a personal and financial sacrifice. Also, the more I learn about the pharmaceutical sciences, the more I am intrigued by them. I am thinking of going industry after graduation. Now, because of the school selection and earlier classes in public health, do I have a feasible chance at industry fellowships or Ph.D programs with more industry connections? What would you recommend to increase my competitiveness for these post graduate opportunities?

Is it rare for Pharm.Ds without any fellowship or Ph.D background to get basic research jobs in the private sector? Is the situation different for UNC, UCSF, SUNY Buffalo Pharm.D grads? What about clinical research? Academic performance aside, would graduates from any program have more or less equal chance at clinical research positions in industry?

 

[lord999]

This topic has been talked about before. I'll update the post with the link.


Short answer, PharmD's even with residencies and fellowships face severe discrimination when it comes to grant funding and research for basic science. There's a perception that PharmDs aren't trained adequately for research (which is true with the basic curriculum). I strongly would encourage you to consider PhD training if your tastes are for basic sciences (Pharmaceutics, PK, Pharmacology, Med. Chemistry, Informatics) or public health (Environmental/Tox, Epi., Public Health Management MS, Biostatistics).

Let me put the job market this way for a PharmD/PhD. You are paid as a baseline PharmD doing PhD work. In my personal experience, the salary differential is very apparent when competing with pure PhD's. The government job I am hiring to offers basic scientists a position at the GS-9 or GS-10 levels with promotion potential to GS-13, period. Having the license to practice boosts my entering pay scale to GS-13, Step 4 that has a promotion potential to GS-15 or even the lower tier of the SES if I'm willing to working really hard for it.

On clinical research, with dedication (a lot of it), I believe that PharmD's have a good chance of retaining good positions within the industry. Strangely, academia tends to discourage the hiring of strictly PharmD clinical researchers, although I believe that trend is beginning to change.