Does anybody know if companies like Pfizer, Merck, or GSK hire pharmacists? If they do, what types of employment opportunities are available for PharmD graduates? With a PharmD, is it easy to get your foot in the door with any of these companies?
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Started by jaypea65
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I am statistics (not pharmacy), but the statisticians get hired often in the CRO's that contract to pharm companeis, the FDA, or the pharm companies itself after PhD (if they do not go the financial route or academic route).
No, it is not easy to get your foot in the door. You really need to rely on a professor that has reliable connections to these companies. Otherwise, there are too many applicants for not enough positions. I chose my statistics department for PhD very carefully because I want to go FDA or pharm industry. I had the head of clinical operations come over from Sanofi-Aventis to my stat department (he graduated with phD in 1991) and he told me that my project was interesting and if I wanted to come to Sanofi I should find a certain advisor (in my department) that had worked with him at his company.
This guy, even though in stat, seemed to know pharmacology well, even though he had never studied it. Likewise in industry, a pharmacologist would probably pick up a lot of statistics. Hence, you are constantly learning in the industry. Recommendations from faculty is what usually gets you in (if they have the proper connections).
I would say in this case, the choice of pharmacy school matters. I would recommend SUNY-Buffalo, Rutgers, UNC-Chapel Hill, UCSF, UCSD, and Michigan. Those schools have good records of people winning the industry fellowships at Midyear. Or do a pharmd / phd program if you really want to. Mercer has sent some people in the pharmd / phd to the FDA and Novartis.
Then you do a two-year fellowship, in an area of interest (I would personally recommend pharmacokinetics), and then you are in.
The salary will initially be a little lower than a retail pharmacist at first (around $80-something K). But after 5 years or so, you will probably surpass a retail pharmcist with salaries over $100K. These are actually numbers for people with PhD in statistics / pharmaceutical sciences who work in the industry.
No, it is not easy to get your foot in the door. You really need to rely on a professor that has reliable connections to these companies. Otherwise, there are too many applicants for not enough positions. I chose my statistics department for PhD very carefully because I want to go FDA or pharm industry. I had the head of clinical operations come over from Sanofi-Aventis to my stat department (he graduated with phD in 1991) and he told me that my project was interesting and if I wanted to come to Sanofi I should find a certain advisor (in my department) that had worked with him at his company.
This guy, even though in stat, seemed to know pharmacology well, even though he had never studied it. Likewise in industry, a pharmacologist would probably pick up a lot of statistics. Hence, you are constantly learning in the industry. Recommendations from faculty is what usually gets you in (if they have the proper connections).
I would say in this case, the choice of pharmacy school matters. I would recommend SUNY-Buffalo, Rutgers, UNC-Chapel Hill, UCSF, UCSD, and Michigan. Those schools have good records of people winning the industry fellowships at Midyear. Or do a pharmd / phd program if you really want to. Mercer has sent some people in the pharmd / phd to the FDA and Novartis.
Then you do a two-year fellowship, in an area of interest (I would personally recommend pharmacokinetics), and then you are in.
The salary will initially be a little lower than a retail pharmacist at first (around $80-something K). But after 5 years or so, you will probably surpass a retail pharmcist with salaries over $100K. These are actually numbers for people with PhD in statistics / pharmaceutical sciences who work in the industry.
These are the most difficult jobs to get. Usually you need to know someone. Many of the positions will also require some form of advanced training beyond the pharmd in terms of a fellowship or residency.
They also look for nuclear pharmacist too!!! I went to some of their job sites, all I see is nuclear pharmacy.. I'm talking about GE, Novartis
