Fellowship Sponsor Company: Novo Nordisk

Function/Discipline: Medical Affairs

Fellowship Years: 2019—2020

Alma Mater: University of Rhode Island, Class of 2019

How did you learn about career opportunities for pharmacists in industry?
Most of what I learned about career opportunities for pharmacists in industry I learned on my own. After having experiences in community and hospital pharmacy, I realized neither really fit with what I was looking for in a career. So, I started searching for other career opportunities that a PharmD degree could provide, and found industry. From there, I read about all of the different functional areas and felt that medical affairs would be a great fit for me. Once I decided this was the path I wanted to take, I tried to gain real life experiences in industry. I was fortunate to be able to complete an internship as well as an APPE rotation with pharmaceutical companies. While I completed these experiences, I made sure to speak with current fellows and other pharmacists in different functional areas to really understand their role to confirm that this was the path I wanted to take. This is something I would really encourage student pharmacists that are interested in pursuing a career in industry to do. Even if you are not able to have internships or APPEs in industry, reach out to current fellows to discover more about what they do to help you decide which functional area you would enjoy most.