Currently, I am a P1 and am looking to get into a fellowship program after graduation. I understand I should be doing other activities apart from working to better my chances of getting into a fellowship program, but where should I work during school semesters to become a better fellowship candidate? I would assume industry experience and research related experiences are best, however, that is mostly offered over the summer and not near my school's location. I am also a chemistry major as well and am pretty much done with all of the coursework. Would working as a chemistry intern or as a chemist (bachelors only) be helpful? Any insight is much appreciated, thanks.
Work Options for Fellowship Candidacy
- Thread starter Zesty
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Phase I Results: Didn't Match and Devastated
I didn't match. I'm devastated. Applied to 21 programs, interviewed at 6, got an email early this morning saying I didn't match. Always been an above-average student, 3.9 gpa, involved in school, etc. Been working retail for the past 4 years and it was good, but has exponentially gotten worse...
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spend your time wise, otherwise u might end up like this person a few years later.
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What do you want your fellowship in?
I want to do a fellowship involved in clinical research and development. I aim for this mostly because I enjoy learning, but I am open to other options as well such as medical affairs.
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Nonsarcastic advice. Considering working during the summer at either King of Prussia, PA or Piscataway, NJ and start networking. And depending on the city, start getting involved in clinical trial work during the academic term. There are usually plenty of options.
honestly, try applying to internships related to what you want or find a clinic where you can volunteer or better yet get paid as a part time research assistant. You will be ahead of 99% of the curve because you know what the field is instead of the pie in the sky image that pharmacy school paints for students. Also, you really don't need a fellowship to go into industry especially in clinical trials where 99% of your coworkers don't even have a masters. A fellowship might give you a little bit of an advantage but in my opinion is way overblown and not needed to work in industry.
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Talk to your professors and see if you can get a job - or at least independent study credit - with them. I did both a bench science project (for school credit) and a clinical research project (as a paid research assistant) and the main thing I learned is that I don't enjoy research and I am not nearly self-motivated enough to be good at it. Got a publication in a major journal out of it, too... I went into industry, but I stayed firmly on the commercial side.
Did you do a fellowship and if you did, was it really worth it?
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I did a fellowship, and it was absolutely worth it. My area is not a natural fit for pharmacists, so it's unlikely that I would have ended up where I am any other way. There is, of course, a way to get there without a fellowship, but I would not have taken it - the time and the effort would have been better applied elsewhere.
It all comes down to what specifically you want to do in industry. Some departments are easier to get into without a fellowship with a PharmD and work experience (and residencies can be very useful) - medical information, medical communication, medical affairs, drug safety. Some are much harder, unless you also have another degree or work experience relevant to that field - health outcomes, epidemiology, marketing, market research, regulatory affairs. Fellowship is absolutely the quickest way to get to those positions.
Every pharmacist I have ever met in marketing, market research, business intelligence or strategy either did a fellowship or joined in the 'golden days' of 1990s or earlier. I have seen some people (with different degrees) transition from Medical to the Commercial side (and vice versa) but it's pretty uncommon. Overall, I would say, it's unusual to change roles completely once you get on a particular track. You may switch to a related role (med info to med affairs, MSL to in-house medical strategy, market research to marketing, etc.) but something dramatic like med info to marketing is rare. Used to be more common in the early 2000s but pretty rare nowadays.
It all comes down to what specifically you want to do in industry. Some departments are easier to get into without a fellowship with a PharmD and work experience (and residencies can be very useful) - medical information, medical communication, medical affairs, drug safety. Some are much harder, unless you also have another degree or work experience relevant to that field - health outcomes, epidemiology, marketing, market research, regulatory affairs. Fellowship is absolutely the quickest way to get to those positions.
Every pharmacist I have ever met in marketing, market research, business intelligence or strategy either did a fellowship or joined in the 'golden days' of 1990s or earlier. I have seen some people (with different degrees) transition from Medical to the Commercial side (and vice versa) but it's pretty uncommon. Overall, I would say, it's unusual to change roles completely once you get on a particular track. You may switch to a related role (med info to med affairs, MSL to in-house medical strategy, market research to marketing, etc.) but something dramatic like med info to marketing is rare. Used to be more common in the early 2000s but pretty rare nowadays.
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Yeah It seems like becoming an MSL is very competitive these days. I am more interested in the clinical research operations side of things but it seems that there are a lot of interesting options. How did you learn in pharmacy school the area you wanted to be in?
This is false IMO. Fellowship is a great option for clinical development, most folks there have either a PhD or MD - PharmD is rare and definitely puts you at a disadvantage at most companies. Any PharmD that has made it to director and above in the last few years 5-10 years out of school has probably done a fellowship, there really is not a faster way
ClinOps is where you might find more BS/Masters/etc. but the ceiling is much lower and the work is execution/operations as the name implies
Just curious what is clinical development in terms of industry?
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I never cared for being an MSL, and I think Med Info and Med Comm are terribly boring... but then, it takes all kinds of people to make a company, so it's good we all have different preferences. I know little about Clin Ops, so I am afraid I can't help you with that. I don't think we had any pharmacists in our Clin Ops group, though, I am pretty sure about that. None that were US grads, at least.
The then-director of the Rutgers Fellowship Program came to speak at my school during my P-2 year, and after that presentation I sat down and wrote down what would make my "dream job". Then I looked at the actual job fields to see what would be the closest match. Then I chose a fellowship that I thought would be the best way to get there. Several years down the line, as I got pretty close to what I thought would be my dream job, I realized that it is not, in fact, something I would enjoy doing - but I was offered an opportunity in another department that I thought sounded interesting. I took it, and several years into it I realized that it is exactly what I enjoy doing and what I am good at...
I work in clinical trials so thats the area of pharmaceutical industry I interact most.
I'm thinking about the guy/gal who is the person responsible for moving the clinical trial forward - he is the hub of the wheel and the spokes include medical affairs, regulatory, PK/PD, GMP, medical affairs, commercial, ClinOps, etc. He is the strategic lead that develops the protocol and the development strategy and works with a lot of other groups that help him/her execute the strategy - usually they're called the development team lead or some variation
Sounds really fun and super interesting. What are the fellowships that you recommend of the top of your head. I can google the rest.
