Pharmacy Professorships and Regulatory Work

[Sitagliptin]

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I'm applying to pharmacy schools for the class of 2015. I've read a lot of the surplus threads, and it's quite obvious that the forecast for retail and hospital positions is quite grim and will only get worse.

However, retail has never been my interest. My goal thus far is to seek a Pharm.D/Ph.D in pharmacoepidemiology, and either work in academia or for the FDA/CDER. UF is my main choice (and my alma mater for undergrad an my MPH), and they have a PHSCC training agreement with the FDA.

My question is, since there are *so many* new pharmacy schools being built, wouldn't the market/job prospects for those who wish to teach and perform academic research be decent? How many pharmacists pursue this route? Is it possible for one to receive a professorship of pharmacy without a Ph.D in addition to a Pharm.D? Does anyone know?

A second general question; is there any correlation between one's job prospects and the rank of their schools?

 

[HappyPharmacist]

My question is, since there are *so many* new pharmacy schools being built, wouldn't the market/job prospects for those who wish to teach and perform academic research be decent? How many pharmacists pursue this route? Is it possible for one to receive a professorship of pharmacy without a Ph.D in addition to a Pharm.D? Does anyone know?

A second general question; is there any correlation between one's job prospects and the rank of their schools?

Right now pharmacy faculty get paid ~1.5 to 2 times greater than faculty in other science disciplines - chemistry, biological sciences, etc. This is due to a number of factors - supply-demand ratio, average salary for the field outside academia, the high tuition that Pharm.D. students pay. In theory, an oversupply of pharmacists would eventually affect what students might think is fair tution, might change the supply-demand ratio and job prospects/salary in academia.

There are two routes to getting into academia. Getting a BS (preferably pharmacy, but biology/chemistry/biochem/etc work just fine) followed by a Ph.D. and preferably some postdoctoral experience OR getting a Pharm.D. followed by preferably atleast a 2 year residency. The Ph.Ds are typically employed in the Dept. of Pharm. Sci. although in some of the newer schools you might see a Pharm.D. in the dept of Pharm Sci. as well. The Pharm.Ds are typically employed in the Dept of Pharmacy Practice and have teaching and part time practice responsibilities(roughly 50% in each). So you could get into academia without a Ph.D. and only a Pharm.D. You would require a 2 year residency though - although some of the new schools might recruit you without any residency at all 🙁.

Again not many pharmacists used to pursue this route as there were not many new openings each year. But the opening of the ~35 new schools in the last few years has changed everything and opened up a lot of new positions.

I am not sure about how Pharm.Ds get into the FDA as compared to Ph.Ds. From what I have heard about working at the FDA, work is pretty boring, but anybody who has done retail has told me they have enjoyed working at the FDA a million times more than doing a retail shift. The pay is a little low but the benefits are fantastic.

 

[Sitagliptin]

Thank you, *thank you*, for your informative post.

Would your post imply that a Pharm.D/Ph.D. would be especially competitive?

 

[HappyPharmacist]

Thank you, *thank you*, for your informative post.

Would your post imply that a Pharm.D/Ph.D. would be especially competitive?

Not necessarily (especially in academia). There might be some niche fields (maybe MSL, medical writing, regulatory affairs) where the dual combination might be very helpful.

In academia, you would not get a lot of mileage out of having the dual degree unless maybe 10-15 years down the line when you start getting into administrative posts (asst. dean, etc) where your background of both departments would definitely give you an edge. Once you get your Pharm.D. you must decide whether you are going to go for a Ph.D.(5 more years most places, maybe you could get it in 3 with your Pharm.D. background) or get a 2 year residency. (those schools that would hire you without the residency are really bad) You should go the Ph.D. route at that point if you really are passionate about research and spending a majority of your day in the lab and teaching pharmacology/ceutics/med chem sounds more fun than practicing in a hospital and teaching therapeutics. Salary wise you might get paid comparable to what you would have got paid with just your Pharm.D. (maybe 10-15k more for having both degrees and depending on how you negotiate).

 

[koercive]

My career goals involves working for the FDA or Pharma. I am doing a MS regulatory science along with my PharmD. They offer distance learning, so many of my classmates are taking the class from all over the world. Although it's not a guarantee to work for the FDA/pharma, it opens a lot of doors (connections with classmates, site visits, professors who are former FDA investigators or industry professionals). Our program's director, Dr. Richmond, is a well-known (internationally) regulatory affairs person.

PM me if you want more info. Another program that I know of is the Masters in Health Outcomes offered up in Washington.

 

[BanBidil]

My career goals involves working for the FDA or Pharma. I am doing a MS regulatory science along with my PharmD. They offer distance learning, so many of my classmates are taking the class from all over the world. Although it's not a guarantee to work for the FDA/pharma, it opens a lot of doors (connections with classmates, site visits, professors who are former FDA investigators or industry professionals). Our program's director, Dr. Richmond, is a well-known (internationally) regulatory affairs person.

Drinking the koolaid....wait til you those loans you have to pay back.

 

[streetpreacher]

Increased acronyms following your name increases popularity at the water cooler.

Because of this, it should naturally be presumed that a candidate with both a PharmD and a PhD would be "more qualified" (I use that terminology loosely, but academia lives in a world other than reality) than a candidate with merely one of these degrees.

Right now, I would assume that many of the newer pharmacy schools in particular would be more interested in a candidate with a dual degree since part of the accrediation process involves accounting for several different degrees in their faculty.

 

[Argentium]

PharmD is good enough for regulatory, MSL, medical writing. Many PharmD's work in these departments and have done well for themselves without any additional education