By Logan Murry, PharmD
While in pharmacy school, a research opportunity focused on cystic fibrosis brought me together with student pharmacists in different stages of our education, and a rotation allowed me to meet another future colleague. Although seemingly serendipitous, some intrinsic factors had clearly driven all of us to pursue similar opportunities in research. Today, we work in a variety of different career and academic settings, and share a goal of providing you with a better understanding about pharmacists working in non-traditional practice settings and the value of conducting clinical research.
My story, and that of my colleagues, is below. We will also author an online exclusive follow-up article on the Student Pharmacist website (www.pharmacist.com/publications/spm) focused on advice for pursuing these avenues, which will be posted in March.
What makes me tick
My father is a professor in pharmacokinetics and held this position at a variety of institutions while I was growing up. When classmates and peers would ask me what he did, my response was consistently, “He is a pharmacist.” That was the only question I had an answer to, however, as I was unsure as to which hospital or community pharmacy he worked in. All I knew was that he worked in a college of pharmacy doing research. Although it would be awhile before I truly understood pharmacokinetics and the exact type of research that he did, it was obvious that many individuals, including myself, were unaware of the types of positions that pharmacists held and the various educational backgrounds and training they received.
I entered pharmacy school interested in residency and hospital practice but began developing a variety of additional interests through elective coursework and organizational involvement, specifically with APhA–ASP. While hospital or community practice settings are formidable options, they may not be for everyone. It was in this realization that I felt obligated to explore all the potential avenues where my education and degree could take me. Realizing that there was research to be done outside of a traditional laboratory, I explored clinical research options by working with pharmacists who held a variety of positions within the research community. I also worked with individuals involved in association management, predominately in the Iowa Pharmacy Association and APhA–ASP.
I attended an abundance of lectures, listening to as many different pharmacists with experience in as many diverse practice settings as I could. Finally, I pursued an elective with some of our Pharmacy Administration/Social and Administrative Pharmacy faculty members. I was immediately transfixed with the economics of pharmacy, pharmacy services, and the particular research that involved patients, pharmacists, and improving the health care system. Additionally, I was fortunate enough to spend a summer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, working with James Hoffman, PharmD, on medication safety and outcomes. His background in pharmacy administration and the research he did was fascinating to me, helping to further my interest in the PhD route.
I had finally found what made me “tick,” although not without a diligent and proactive approach. These experiences have led me to pursue a PhD in health services research, a program I have enjoyed thoroughly to date. During my time as a student pharmacist, I had the opportunity to work on a cystic fibrosis research project with Alexandra Carlson and Francesca Milavetz. While on rotations, I met Neda Nguyen, a fellow student pharmacist interested in medication safety and outcomes who was considering pursuing a fellowship. I will let them take over from here.
Alexandra Carlson, PharmD
While a student pharmacist at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy (CoP), I often struggled with what activities were appropriate to do to expand my pharmacy horizon and build my CV. I was a second-year student before I looked into any research opportunities. I was told by residents and clinical pharmacists that research could be a great CV builder when applying to residency programs. I did not know how to find research opportunities, therefore I turned to my mentors and advisors at the college. I sent a plethora of e-mails and talked to different people, but I was continuously hitting dead ends. I spoke with faculty members who are involved in research, my faculty mentor, my professional mentor, and my advisor. I exhausted what I thought were all my resources without any luck of finding research opportunities suitable for me.
I responded to a study e-mail about asthma, because I am passionate about the subject. Although I did not qualify, my e-mail was forwarded to Mary Teresi, PharmD, who specializes in clinical research with a pulmonary emphasis at the CoP. Dr. Teresi responded right away with information on how to become involved in research. Together, we would update medication histories, discuss medication changes or any adverse reactions, and more. Not only did we analyze this data and pick up data from other places, we also did a multitude of other activities: ran blood tests, took cultures to the lab, conducted
spirometry, spoke to physicians, and collected patient medical histories.
I now wish as a first-year student I would have been informed on how to become involved in research and how a pharmacist can participate. I want to help others find similar opportunities and make it easier for them.
Francesca Milavetz, student pharmacist
I was exposed to pharmacy at a young age. I have pharmacists for parents—my father is a professor at the University of Iowa CoP and my mother was also a professor, but took a position as a clinical research pharmacist shortly after I was born. While vastly different in a variety of ways, their careers overlap in that they primarily work with pediatric pulmonary diseases: cystic fibrosis and asthma. Due to the heavy influence my parents had on my understanding of pharmacy, I am aware of some of the lesser-known pharmacy opportunities.
As I matured into a child and adolescent, I accompanied my mom and dad to work. I became more aware of what they both did. For example, my mom would run sweat chloride tests and do spirometry and my dad would write grants, see children in the allergy department, and work on class presentations.
When I speak to a majority of my classmates, many of them are relatively unaware of the vast opportunities a PharmD opens up for a graduate. A majority of people, upon hearing “I want to be a pharmacist,” think the declaring individual wants to be behind the counter counseling patients on how to take their medications and preparing the dosing regimen. Granted, this is not a bad or wrong way of thinking of pharmacy, but it is rather limited. Another factor is that many students who are working are in a community or hospital pharmacy setting where they do not have the exposure to different types of pharmacy. This causes the propagation that all pharmacists are limited to a community or hospital setting because that is where students generally work.
As a budding pharmacist in my third year at the University of Iowa CoP, I am seeing a different view of pharmacy from what I grew up expecting.
Neda Nguyen, PharmD
As the first generation of my family to be born in America, I was not exposed to the health care industry early on, let alone anything related specifically to pharmacy. My parents came to the United States as refugees of their separate respective countries, so although I did not come from a long line of health professionals, I am no stranger to seizing non-traditional opportunities and running with them. I was never someone who entered pharmacy school knowing exactly what I wanted to do or with any specific career trajectory in mind.
After an initial interest in pharmacology and chemistry following a number of years of routine drug testing as a former competitive athlete, I eventually set my sights on a pharmacy career toward the end of my undergraduate education. I volunteered in a hospital pharmacy, talked to pharmacists who held many different positions, and realized the multitude of directions that a PharmD can take you. My whole philosophical approach to pharmacy school, and in life for that matter, was to gain as diverse of a range of experiences as possible. As a recent graduate from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy, I was fortunate enough to attend a program that allowed me to explore all these options.
I worked in various community and clinical settings throughout my first 3 years at UCSF, but entering my fourth year, I was still unsure what I wanted to pursue post-graduation. Consequently, I set up my rotations in as many different areas of pharmacy as I could. Thus, enter my exposure to FDA—where I met Logan—industry, and the regulatory world. I spoke with as many pharmacists as possible during my FDA rotation, learning what they were involved in, what brought them there, and what their early careers looked like. I left FDA wanting even more exposure, so I continued to reach out to many people in industry. In a matter of months, I had not only found an area of pharmacy that resonated more with me, but entirely altered my career goals.
More than 80% of my classmates applied to residencies, and while that is an undeniably admirable route, I find myself eternally grateful that I took the extra effort to find out what made me the happiest. After graduation, I accepted a fellowship position in Regulatory Affairs at Allergan and am now a Managed Care Medical Communications Scientist at Genentech. Pharmacists can be involved in any number of these areas, including but not limited to, medical affairs, regulatory affairs, drug safety, clinical development, pharmacokinetics research, commercial and marketing, and health economics and outcomes research.
Planning out every step and calculating every move upon entering pharmacy school might have made my time easier and less stressful, but the path I took allowed me to continuously
develop my career goals.