How UIC Pharmacy Met Booming Interest In Industry Careers

BY MICHAEL DHAR

As interest in the pharmaceutical industry has surged among pharmacy grads, UIC Pharmacy has excelled in preparing students for this rewarding nontraditional path. This year, the college rose to number two nationally in placing students in highly competitive pharmaceutical industry fellowships. That remarkable achievement comes despite the geographical advantages of rival East Coast schools, said Dr. Glen Schumock, dean of the college.

In the rankings from the Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO), UIC placed 35 fellows, edging out the University of North Carolina and Northeastern University, which tied for third at 29. Rutgers placed first with 72 fellowships, while St. John’s University rounded out the top 5 with 27 placements. The rankings include 122 schools.

MIDWEST’S BEST

Standing shoulder to shoulder with schools on the East Coast, where the pharma industry is concentrated, makes UIC’s achievement even more impressive, Schumock said. Those institutions frequently work with pharmaceutical companies to develop these very fellowships. So while UIC runs five industry fellowships with pharma companies, places like Rutgers and the University of Massachusetts collaborate on 100 or more—with the networking advantages that entails.

“Their students certainly have an advantage because they’re at that school already,” Schumock said. “They know the ins and outs. They know who to talk to, and they may have even worked in the pharmaceutical company, so to be number two on this list really speaks volumes for our students and our program.”

SOUGHT-AFTER GRADUATES

Coming in at no. 2 also represents a rise through the years for UIC. In 2022, the college placed third and has improved from number five in 2016–2017, when it placed 16 students in fellowships.

Overall, that rise shows the success of the college in producing highly sought-after pharmacy graduates, Schumock said, noting that only around 1% to 2% of pharmacy students nationally earn these fellowships. “It’s a sign that the training that they get here is valued by pharmaceutical industry.”

UIC has helped prepare its grads in a number of ways, from providing a uniquely strong clinical foundation to offering pharmaceutical-related electives—including marketing and managed care—not available at other schools, Schumock said.

This fall, the school debuted a new industryfocused elective that will introduce students to the many roles, from medical affairs to health economics, a pharmacy grad could take in industry. Students learn directly from professionals in the field, with speakers visiting weekly to discuss their roles—and provide networking opportunities.

Guest lecturers come from some of the biggest pharma companies, drawing from UIC’s connections with high-ranking experts.

“We had a couple of vice presidents of departments come to talk. We have global directors,” said Dr. Brad Bartels, UIC Pharmacy clinical assistant professor and coordinator for the course. “We were able to get a lot of very, very important people, very knowledgeable people.” (The course also continues to seek alumni interested in participating.)

Bartels said he hopes the new elective gives students a clearer view of what pharma work entails. “In reality, the process of creating a drug and getting it onto market could take 20 years, 30. There’s a lot of people involved in the process, a lot of different departments.”

Sweet Home Chicago

The course draws on another strength at UIC: the college’s connections to local companies. Though it doesn’t rival the East Coast, the Chicago area has a much higher concentration of pharma corporations than most other places in the country, Schumock said.

“Our students get experience at those companies in the summer. They do internships, or they do their clerkship rotations,” Schumock said. “That also becomes part of their resume or CV . . . when they apply for these positions.” and multiple pharmaceutical consulting companies, he said. “So students really have access to almost all of the different routes you can take with pharmacy.”

Dr. Sam Hong, PharmD ’19, director of global health economics and outcomes research at cancer diagnostics company Agilent Technologies, agreed about the college’s geographic advantages. UIC is uniquely positioned in that the school’s location gives students access to experiences [in] more traditional pharmacy routes, but at the same time, there are pharma companies . . .

The Role Of Student Groups

Even before the new elective, UIC Pharmacy offered students valuable opportunities to interface with pharma professionals, Hong said. “These companies come to speak at UIC on a pretty regular basis,” he said.

That happens as part of the regular curriculum, through the new course’s predecessor, which brings in speakers from all areas of post–pharmacy school careers, including industry. Student groups also play a big role in giving UIC students exposure to pharma, in particular the UIC student chapters of the Drug Information Association (DIA) and IPHO. These local branches of national organizations “are just fantastic in terms of how they help our students,” Schumock said. “It’s the networking, the access to the parent organizations . . . they provide a lot of resources to the student groups.”

The new pharma-focused course builds on the IPHO, which has brought speakers to campus in an increasingly popular extracurricular series, Bartels said. “The interest in that has been growing significantly over the last couple years, and the amount of students that are enrolled in the IPHO organization has skyrocketed.”

Student groups also played a leading role in Hong’s journey to industry. In his case, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), where he became chapter president, offered Hong his first exposure to the industry and related networking opportunities. “They are a [major] professional organization that hosts national annual conferences that bring in more than 10,000 professionals,” he said.

UIC’s IPHO chapter also gives students the opportunity to experience pharma work first-hand. In the group’s “case competition” activity, members break into groups and replicate the entire process of getting a drug to market.

They’re designing a plan for a hypothetical drug and they’re . . . laying out how they’re going to implement getting this drug onto market, said Bartels, the group’s advisor. “So they have to spell out their marketing aspects. What is their slogan going to be? What’s their logo going to be?”

The several-months-long process leaves students “very well rounded afterwards,” Bartels said.

Strong Clinical Foundation

UIC’s strong placement of pharmaceutical fellows speaks not just to the school’s specific strengths in industry, but also the general quality of its program, Schumock said. “We’re ranked in the top 10 nationally as a pharmacy program, and we have been for a long time, so that gives our students an advantage.”

In particular, the school’s unique clinical focus helps UIC students stand out, he added. “We’re known nationally as being really focused on clinical pharmacy. That reputation precedes our students and helps in the application.”

Hong said he valued the clinical basis of his education at UIC, as well as the chance to get involved in research with faculty. Those opportunities helped expand his notion of what he could do with a pharmacy degree.

UIC is really strong on making sure students are going to be clinically adept upon graduation . . . and they offer these additional supplements to our clinical knowledge, he said. “I think the way I was introduced to the pharmaceutical industry was appropriate, and I honestly wouldn't change anything about it.”