Careers in Pharmacy
In India, the pharmacist’s career is still synonymous with
dispensing medicines.
A peek at pharmacy career abroad reveals all of the
mentioned below….
Well-rounded:
Exciting blend of health care, direct patient contact, business, and technology
You can choose a two -fold career path
People Driven
Vs Industry driven
People Driven :
Community Pharmacy/Hospital/Managed Care(review therapy) /Consulting/Drug
Stores.
Majority of pharmacists work in community pharmacy, but
growing number of pharmacists working in other health care settings, such as…
Industry Driven:
Pharmaceutical Companies: Pfizer, Merck --- research, Sales ,QA, Marketing.
(for Marketing/Sales look at special courses as in MBA in
Marketing Mgmt offered at USP)
Govt labs: FDA ,NIH
Biotech Industry: Mol
Bio techniques
Academics: Teaching & research
Medical publishing/Technical Writing:
Special career
tracks like hospital management/administration –You can Requisites : work experience of 2+
yrs , GMAT and TOEFL,
MBA in Health Care Administration/ or University
of Wisconsin - Madison
M.S. Program (with concentration in Hospital-Pharmacy Administration)
M.S. Program (with concentration in Hospital-Pharmacy Administration)
Choosing your specializations
Choose your subjects wisely:
While taking up a degree program you want to decide on an
intelligent mix of courses so that you are able to fit the job market and also
match your interests
Apart from interests(align your project work here) consult
seniors, faculty,
Study job market – for the past one year the trends are
medicinal chemistry /pharmacology ( also applicable to RGUHS)
These are the some of the specializations available at the
school of pharmacy – for a MS/PHD program
•
Drug
Discovery & Design(synthesis
of new drugs)
Fields; Medicinal Chemistry, Combinatorial
chemistry, Biotechnology
•
Drug
Delivery: dosage of
drugs
Fields: Pharmaceutics, Pharmaco-kinetics
•
Drug
Action: how drug works in the
body
Fields :Molecular biology, Pharmacology,
Pharmaco-dynamics, Biochemistry ,Toxicology
•
Drug
Analysis: Separating,identifying
& quantifying components Fields :Analytical Chemistry
•
Cost
effectiveness of Medicines - Pharmaco-economcis
•
Regulatory
Affairs:
Pharmacy Administration
Some top
universities and their courses
Marketing for e.g MS in marketing Univ of
sciences , philadelphia
MS in Hospital administartion –Wisconson Madison ,Ohio State univ
Ohio State University and many other schools also offer Hospital Administration/Hospital
Management – MBA
What
does the shortage of pharmacists mean for pharmacy graduates?…
Growth
in pharmacist jobs
More and more people today have started questioning the
medicines they consume.
Due to this…
1.Increased life
span
2.Sophistication of
medicines
3.Increased emphasis
in patient care
Salary Outlook
Placement Services at University of Georgia –Athens organizes career fairs each year –recent
graduates have been placed in agencies like NIH, FDA,Pfizer
Their graduates have received multiple offers with a salary
of $45,000.
Australia –starting salary is 9, 000 –12,000 dollars
UK the starting salary is 16,000 –21,000 pounds
Ideal career progression in terms of salary the range can be
anywhere between 45K – 80K starting from a staff
pharmacist to a pharmacy director
References
www.pharmacynow.org
