Teach with PharmD

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Greatpharma

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Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering whether a pharmD graduate can teach without completing a residency, fellowship, or further pursuing a PhD? Maybe teaching as a faculty at a community college or working as an academic advisor? Please let me know your thoughts or experience. Greatly appreciate it, thank you!

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Teach what?

If you want to teach anything pharmacy related, you’ll need some pharmacy experience of some kind. If you want to teach a section of freshman bio at a community college, you might be able to if you have a connection. CC adjunct instructors make very little $$$.
 
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Teach what?

If you want to teach anything pharmacy related, you’ll need some pharmacy experience of some kind. If you want to teach a section of freshman bio at a community college, you might be able to if you have a connection. CC adjunct instructors make very little $$$.
“In my 0 years of practice as a pharmacist but 2 years of interning for CVS...”
 
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Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering whether a pharmD graduate can teach without completing a residency, fellowship, or further pursuing a PhD? Maybe teaching as a faculty at a community college or working as an academic advisor? Please let me know your thoughts or experience. Greatly appreciate it, thank you!
How about kindergarten math class where they learn how to count by fives? Certainly the quality of the material you can prepare is superior to the kindergarten teacher since you have a “doctorate” degree.
 
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If you are serious, I would publish on a topic that you know a lot about and present on the topic at a conference, such as DIA. You need to build a portfolio. Consider whether or not you know enough to make a CE module about the topic and begin to position yourself an expert on "X". Speaking engagements do begin to arrive.
 
Yeah, it depends what you want to teach. A pharmacy calculation class for nursing students? Probably. Anything at a Pharm D school? Probably not.
 
Yeah, it depends what you want to teach. A pharmacy calculation class for nursing students? Probably. Anything at a Pharm D school? Probably not.

Well...that depends.

PharmD route: There are quite a few adjunct PharmD instructors at PharmD programs as well with their PharmD. They are considered "Volunteer Faculty" by some schools and may not be taken as seriously as their residency-trained counterparts. Sad, but true.

For example, USFCOP (FL) had quite a few adjunct instructors: one who taught leadership from the NAVY and another who taught gout from a corporate hospital; both instructors did not gain residency or post-graduate training, but they did have experience. Some clinical pharmacists who had PGY-1 and/or PGY-2 training prepared lectures and sent them online to the Course Coordinator. One instructor I know from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS) taught nursing pharmacology, not calculations, after working 2 years at Rite-Aid. He eventually attained an MSL position after 20 years of experience: some clinical, some retail.

PhD route: Most Adjunct Instructors in UNC Chapel Hill's PharmD program have PhDs, but a few have PharmDs. The internal requirements vary depending on where you decide to apply and where your scholarly contributions lie: pharmacy or something else. Some schools, like UF, put it to a vote after reviewing your application. One instructor I met in GA had to obtain a PhD when going into Health Outcomes Research for 4-6 years. This instructor already had a PharmD. They transitioned from retail to that type of research.

Fellowship route: Some PharmD or PhD fellowships have a teaching component with it, which requires you to be on or near campus. The Oncology fellowship program through Novartis in NJ is like this as well as Duke University's Drug Information Fellowship. Usually these post-doctoral fellowships last 1-2 years depending on the program. Gaining a position, however, is not always guaranteed. Candidates who get into these pharmaceutical or HEOR fellowships with a PharmD usually have a stellar academic record and what I call true publications with very strong letters of recommendation.

Here is my question: Are you obligated to go to your alma mater for teaching opportunities and to get the ASHP Teaching Certificate or can you find a mentor somewhere else to gain the expected training and experience online? I prefer to go somewhere else and find another mentor from another school: personal and professional reasons. The ASHP Teaching Certificate PREFERs you find a mentor at your practice site, but that is not always feasible. You can't do the ASHP Teaching Certificate online, which is INSANE considering educational delivery is mostly online anyways.
 
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