How to Unlock Thrilling Pharma Careers for Public Health Grads

Discover Thriving Careers in Pharma for Public Health Graduates

Author

Joseph Iyongo
December 13, 2024

In this edition, we will explore career opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry for public health graduates. There are numerous options available for these graduates due to the critical role that pharmaceutical companies play in healthcare delivery, as well as the emerging trends within the healthcare sector.

To provide some context, spending on prescription drugs accounts for approximately 9% of total annual healthcare expenditures, exceeding $400 billion each year. Additionally, the healthcare industry relies heavily on the pharmaceutical sector for essential products needed for both therapeutic (medications) and preventive care (vaccines).

Need for Change: The pharmaceutical sector of healthcare delivery is significantly impacted by the demand for increased efficiency and cost optimization. There is a growing need for a more effective research and development process that enables the production and sale of new medications at more affordable prices.

Additionally, pharmaceutical companies are continually working to develop new products that address identified market and healthcare needs, ultimately aiming to enhance healthcare outcomes.

Emerging Trends: Many pharmaceutical companies are now leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in their systems and processes, including the research and development of new drugs and the evaluation of existing medications for new therapeutic purposes.

The application of emerging technologies and ongoing research and development efforts has created new opportunities, particularly in managing research and development activities. This trend is opening significant avenues for individuals with public health degrees to pursue and develop careers in the pharmaceutical sector of healthcare delivery.

Career Areas for Public Health Graduates in Pharmaceutical Industry

Most high-level opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry typically require candidates to have some form of professional qualification, such as a Medical Doctor, Physician Assistant, Registered Nurse, or Ph.D., in addition to a graduate degree in public health. However, there are also several positions that are suitable for graduates with only a bachelor's degree in public health regardless of your years of experience.

Let’s review some of the opportunity areas in the pharmaceutical industry that can be a good fit for public health graduates.

Health Economics and Outcomes Research

This is the area that specializes in generating evidence about the value of a new drug or therapy. The main goal of these research studies is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the drug and the healthcare outcomes attributed to them.

You will likely be a good fit for this area of pharmaceutical industry if you are interested Biostatistics or Epidemiology. You can learn more about HEOR here.

See below links to real examples of HEOR job opportunities and the companies hiring for these jobs:

Program/Product/Project Management

Program and Product management as well as project management have a lot of similarities. Most of these are centered around taking ideas, strategic visions and working on them collaboratively to achieve desired results, develop products, or get tasks completed. All of these are aspects of work that are very important in the pharmaceutical industry and public health graduates have the required skills and abilities to thrive in these career areas. You may need to learn a few additional skills (depending on your level of proficiency/knowledge with program/Product management concepts), but this is a career area that is a good fit for public health graduates. E.g. See this advertised role: Business Partner Position (This job/webpage can be closed at anytime).

Use the following links to learn more about Pharmaceutical Product Management

Other job segments in the pharmaceutical industry that public health graduates can be develop career interests and take advantage of opportunities in this industry include:

  • Health Education and Sales: This entails working on the sales team of a pharmaceutical company to educate both clinicians and patients about the products of the company and answer any questions they may have or provide any support they may need.

  • Biostatistics and Analytics: This involves working on various data analysis for various business purposes (depending on the department or teams that you are working with).

  • Health Policy Research: This is often done with HEOR (see above), but health policy research can also be done apart from HEOR. It helps companies to understand various government policies and the risks or opportunities that these policies may present to their company or business.

  • Health Safety and Environment: Most pharmaceutical companies own manufacturing plants and research labs where compliance to environmental, personnel and product safety guidelines must be maintained. Public Health graduates with Environmental Health concentration can find several opportunities in this area. E.g. Medical Device Safety Intern (This job/webpage can be closed at anytime).

Job Opportunities

Getting hired by pharmaceutical companies can seem daunting to some people but the recruitment process can be seamless if the opportunity is the right fit for you. All you have to do is to follow the instructions for the application process.

We may not have the time to review each opportunity in every company, so I will provide a list of companies where you can find these opportunities. All you have to do is to go through their career pages and search for the recent/current opportunities that are available. Here are some tips to that maybe helpful:

  • Very Important!: Consider applying to internship/fellowship/early career opportunities (executive/leadership development programs) if you are just graduating or about to graduate and don’t have any experience. Always check out for these programs first, almost all or most pharmaceutical companies have these opportunities.

  • If you are an Environmental Health major (in Environmental Health concentration of MPH) or you’re in a bachelors program but interested in Environmental Health; always check for Health Safety and Environment (HSE) opportunities because most pharmaceutical companies own manufacturing plants and research labs where compliance to safety and environmental guidelines must be maintained.

  • Most of the job descriptions/requirements may not mention public health specifically but rather use a general term like healthcare degree, science degree etc. Don’t count yourself out if you see such terms used but don’t see any mention of public health.

  • Adapt the experience on your resume to fit some these job descriptions (you can get help from career services in your school).

  • Use some the tips from the ebook (Job Prospecting Tips) you received after joining this newsletter to apply for these opportunities.

  • Apply to as many opportunities as you can find

Below are links to career pages of pharmaceutical companies where you can find potential job openings for public health graduates. Use the information provided above to search for job opportunities.

Resources

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We’ll look at public health career opportunities in government departments and agencies.

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