Does the prospect of continuing lower reimbursement rates, crazy hours, longer phone wait times, and slow and inefficient pharmacy software have you considering a new career? Over the past 10 to 15 years, we have seen a tremendous shift in the number of pharmacists turning to the pharmaceutical industry sector (pharma) to explore new career paths. In particular, one path has grown over 300% in the past decade – medical affairs.

The medical affairs function is concerned mainly with data dissemination and generation. Traditionally, this function oversees medical information specialists, medical science liaisons, and medical directors. In the past, the majority of folks in pharma on the medical side were PharmDs. However, increasing numbers of MD and Ph.D. candidates are flocking to these roles, creating an interesting competitive race to land one of these coveted positions.

Next Steps in Medical Affairs

So how do you prepare for a role in pharma? Some colleges of pharmacy have strong fellowship programs, such as the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy’s medical affairs fellowship program. However, most candidates have learned on the job; until now, that is. The Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs has developed the only comprehensive program for individuals interested in a serious medical affairs career. The program offers a program to individuals with an MD, a PharmD, or a Ph.D. Students enrolled in an accredited doctoral program may also be eligible but can only use the professional designation in their title upon graduation. The BCMAS program covers 20 different topics in medical affairs, including medical devices, diagnostics, and health economics outcomes research. It is an online, self-paced program with a final exam (also taken online).

As drug development shifts to more specialty and rare disease areas, the study of the underlying pathobiology and science will continue to evolve in complexity, thus requiring individuals with advanced scientific and clinical backgrounds to educate physicians on drugs’ clinical data. As a result, we will continue to see an ongoing increase in medical affairs and higher demand for more MD, PharmD, and Ph.D. candidates at the forefront of educating health care providers around the world.

This article is published in collaboration with the Directions in Pharmacy CE Conference program.

Dr. William Soliman is the President and CEO of The Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA). He is a senior executive with several years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Most recently, Dr. Soliman served as a global medical director at Eisai. He has also held various medical leadership roles across the industry at Gilead Sciences, Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Merck. Dr. Soliman previously served as vice president of Medical and Scientific Affairs at CME LLC. Dr. Soliman earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University, his bachelor’s degree from New York University, and his master’s degree from St. Peter’s University.