IPhO News

We are pleased to announce that University of Iowa College of Pharmacy has joined our network as the 94th chapter!

Congratulations to student pharmacists at University of Iowa! IPhO now connects them to more than 5,000 student pharmacists with similar interests, as well as a national network of hundreds of industry fellows and thousands of industry pharmacists.

Several more schools are in the late stages of filing their chapter applications and will soon join the growing national network.

To start a chapter at your school, contact us here.

For the student benefits of joining IPhO, view the National Student Brochure here!

As we wrap up the 2020-2021 school year, IPhO is pleased to announce the 2021-2022 National and Regional Student Officers! They will continue the beneficial work done by this year's group and IPhO is looking forward to kicking off the new term with them in the coming months. We are starting with 93 IPhO student chapters (and counting)!

Congratulations and welcome to the following officers!

On Saturday, April 17, the IPhO chapter at Purdue University hosted its 5th Annual Midwest Industry Pharmacist Symposium. This year’s symposium was nothing short of exceptional. With a virtual platform, the event was able to bring together student pharmacists and industry professionals located around the world. The theme of the event was “Giant Leaps in Industry.”

The symposium began with opening remarks from Jim Alexander, Executive Director and Founder of IPhO, followed by a keynote address from Susan Graf, Chief Executive Officer at Akamara Therapeutics. Afterward, students joined functional area breakout sessions that focused on medical affairs, regulatory affairs, regulatory ad promo, HEOR, marketing, and commercial. During these sessions, students had the opportunity to participate in an engaging case study activity that provided more insight about the day-to-day activities within each department.

The IPhO Eastern Region is proud to present its Spring 2021 newsletter! Despite the virtual environment, chapters continuously worked hard to ensure that students still have opportunities to network and gain knowledge about the pharmaceutical industry career path.

Executive board members from the Eastern Region found creative ways to keep in touch with student members. This includes collaborating with other organizations and local chapters within the region, inviting speakers in industry to virtual events, holding thoughtful discussions about the impact of COVID-19 in industry, and providing resources for students on preparing themselves for job opportunities post-graduation.

In this newsletter, an event from each of the nine chapters in the Eastern Region is highlighted. It has been a pleasure working with the Eastern Region chapters this past year, and I am excited to share a brief snapshot of their accomplishments with the IPhO audience!

READ THE NEWSLETTER

Article authored by:

Vienica Funtanilla
2020-21 IPhO Regional Student Officer, Eastern Region
St. John’s University
Class of 2021

Congratulations to the IPhO chapter at University of the Sciences for being named the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PCP) Organization of the Year for the 2020-21 academic year!

This annual award is being presented at an upcoming ceremony on May 11, and the USciences Executive Board, led by President Jasmeen Kaur, will be recognized for excellence in fundraising, hosting innovative events, and advocacy during a very challenging year.

The 2020-21 term has been incredibly productive and exciting for our IPhO National Student Officers (NSOs) and Regional Student Officers (RSOs). We want to take a moment to thank them for their numerous accomplishments. Notably, during their tenure, the number of IPhO student chapters grew to 93! These leaders worked tirelessly to ensure that all IPhO student pharmacists were well informed about the resources and tools available to them and expertly navigated challenging remote circumstances as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

During the 2020-21 term, IPhO NSOs and RSOs:

Last year, the IPhO Annual Meeting was hosted virtually for the first time ever! Nearly 850 participants tuned in, including 600+ students from 111 schools of pharmacy, 150+ sponsor representatives, and 70+ faculty members. Attendance doubled from 2019—which was the first year that the meeting was held in person in New Jersey.

Join in virtually from the comfort of home. No need to drive, fly, or stay in a hotel to experience one of the biggest industry professional development events of the year!

Early-bird registration is now LIVE! IPhO members and guests can save $50 on meeting registration by signing up by May 31. Visit the event landing page for more information, benefits of attending for P4s and P1-P3s, and to register. We can't wait to see you there!

On Saturday, April 24 and Sunday, April 25, the IPhO chapters at Hampton University and Howard University hosted the first-ever HU Diversity Symposium—bringing together student pharmacists of color from across the nation for a weekend of professional development.

As we move forward through these unprecedented times, IPhO remains committed to increasing diversity and inclusion within the pharmaceutical industry, and this symposium offered workshops, discussions, recruitment strategies and more to help empower student pharmacists of color to pursue an industry career post-graduation.

We are pleased to announce that Creighton University School of Pharmacy has joined our network as the 93rd chapter!

Congratulations to student pharmacists at Creighton University! IPhO now connects them to more than 5,000 student pharmacists with similar interests, as well as a national network of hundreds of industry fellows and thousands of industry pharmacists.

Several more schools are in the late stages of filing their chapter applications and will soon join the growing national network.

To start a chapter at your school, contact us here.

For the student benefits of joining IPhO, view the National Student Brochure here!

The third annual IPhO Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM) was organized and hosted by the IPhO Chapter at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on March 19-20th, 2021. For the first time, this meeting was held virtually as a two-day event via Zoom. While the hosts faced new challenges with an online meeting, IPhO-Albany was successful not only in adapting their meeting to preserve the core values of NERM, but also in including new events tailored to the virtual format. This year, the chapter was also successful in expanding its outreach to eight different schools, including those located outside the northeast region.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2020-2021 Value of Industry Pharmacists (VIP) Case Competition. This year, 71 IPhO student chapters registered to participate in the competition—the most impressive turnout to-date! The competition also had 42 industry fellows and industry pharmacists volunteer to help judge the submissions.

The annual IPhO VIP Case Competition enables students to delve into multiple disciplines within the pharmaceutical industry as they develop their hypothetical drug, including, but not limited to: Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, and Commercial Functions. Each phase of the drug's development lifecycle presents a unique challenge that encourages students to think strategically and apply both their clinical and pharmaceutical industry knowledge.

As we move forward through these unprecedented times, IPhO remains committed to increasing diversity and inclusion within the pharmaceutical industry.

The HU Diversity Symposium will help do just that! We invite you to join us for this virtual professional development event to help support student pharmacists of color as they navigate an industry career.

We are excited to share that IPhO is now accepting National and Regional Student Officer (NSO/RSO) applications for the 2021-2022 cycle!

LEARN MORE AND APPLY

Being an NSO or RSO is an opportunity to get involved at the IPhO national level and make a significant impact on the work that the organization is doing to help prepare industry-minded student pharmacists from across the country. As a NSO or RSO, you have the opportunity to:

• Build industry valued knowledge and skills
• Gain highly visible national recognition
• Network with fellows, student and senior leaders within IPhO

It was a busy and exciting Presidents' Day for pharmacy students, as IPhO chapters across the country kicked off Professional Development Week 2021. The first-of-its kind FREE event began on Monday, February 15 and took place over five action-packed days. And though you'd never know it based on how smoothly the events ran, it was the culmination of months of hard work from an incredibly talented team of IPhO student leaders.

The purpose of Professional Development Week, which will now be an annual IPhO initiative to kick off the spring semester, is to provide helpful information on pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmacy students with an interest in Industry careers are encouraged to join in and learn about important topics. Each IPhO region hosted an event, and the lineup of topics was as follows this year:

IPhO is proud to present a regional chapter effort in the promotion of pharmacy, industry, and professionalism.

Details and RSVP links to the FREE SEMINARS, taking place from February 15-19, can be found here.

We are pleased to announce that University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy has joined our network as the 92nd chapter!

Congratulations to student pharmacists at USC! IPhO now connects them to more than 5,000 student pharmacists with similar interests, as well as a national network of hundreds of industry fellows and thousands of industry pharmacists.

Several more schools are in the late stages of filing their chapter applications and will soon join the growing national network.

To start a chapter at your school, contact us here.

For the student benefits of joining IPhO, view the National Student Brochure here!

New year, new chapter in the IPhO family! We are kicking off 2021 by welcoming the 91st school in our rapidly growing national network.

Congratulations to student pharmacists at Belmont University College of Pharmacy! IPhO now connects them to more than 5,000 student pharmacists with similar interests, as well as a national network of hundreds of industry fellows and thousands of industry pharmacists.

Several more schools are in the late stages of filing their chapter applications and will soon join the growing national network.

To start a chapter at your school, contact us here.

For the student benefits of joining IPhO, view the National Student Brochure here!

The guide below was written and submitted by Jaqueline Pereira and Michael Schaefer. Both are University of Florida PharmD Candidates, Class of 2022. These talented students helped pave the way to turn the VIP project into a pharmacy school elective credit. Thank you to both of these talented students for their helpful guidance!

The University of Florida (UF) is proud to announce that the IPhO VIP Case Competition is the first industry pharmacy course in the UF College of Pharmacy curriculum called “Pharmacists’ Roles in Drug Development.” This course allows students to learn the various functional roles for pharmacists in industry and how to contribute to a cohesive drug development plan. The VIP Case Competition will enhance students’ exposure to career opportunities in the industry field which is a valuable experience for students to learn more about the many non-traditional pharmacy career paths.

If you are interested in making the VIP Case Competition an elective credit course at your school, these are the steps UF took to get the VIP Case Competition approved for elective credit. VIEW THE GUIDE

2020 has been an unprecedented year – from natural disasters, to a global pandemic and a push for significant societal change. With so much activity within the external environment, it can be quite challenging for work-from-home employees to focus on their work assigned. For example, according to an article from Medium, employees working on their computer are distracted once every ten and a half minutes. (Medium, 2017) In addition, it can be a tough transition from pharmacy student life to the virtual working world for many pharmaceutical industry fellows. The topic of “deep work” is pertinent to many as we adjust to this space in addition to the numerous distractions that surround us. Distractions can include the news, social media, our cell phones, families, and even our professional engagement activities. Many influential individuals such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and even the late Steve Jobs incorporated deep work rituals in their daily lives and credit this skill for their overwhelming success.

Clinical research today faces many challenges, from lengthy recruitment periods and poor clinical study outcomes to waste in clinical supplies.

Involving pharmacists as stakeholders in clinical research allows for the creation of new solutions to these long-standing issues.

RxE2 will be disrupting clinical research and creating thousands of jobs specifically for pharmacists in industry, benefiting communities around the world.

Watch the video above and visit the RXE2 website to learn more about how this innovative company is making a global impact with pharmacists at the forefront.