Pacific Pharmacist Career Pathways
Supported by the Office of Student Affairs

Academic pharmacists have many key responsibilities, including training students and conducting research. Research may include laboratory studies to evaluate findings with other scientific data. Research is also done on patient compliance, wellness and other disease-related measurements. In addition to sharing pharmaceutical knowledge and information with other health care professionals and students, academic pharmacists also speak at industry events, contribute to science and education publications, and advise student pharmacists. 

 

Benefits of a career in Academic Pharmacy

• Opportunity to contribute to scientific and clinical knowledge

• Enhance your own learning while improving the experience of learning for others. 

• Freedom to be creative and pursue own interests

• Develop an identity within specialty and enhance career

• Ability to collaborate with other professionals

• Personal satisfaction from training of students, residents, fellows, and graduate students.

 

Common characterists amongst pharmacy faculty include:

• Teaching pharmacy students

• Engaging in scholarly work or research

• Publishing their work

• Participating in service activities

 

 

Types of Pharmacy Faculty

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty

Pharmaceutical sciences faculty perform research in all aspects of the drug discovery and development process, and teach graduate and professional pharmacy students. Pharmaceutical scientists perform research that includes sophisticated instrumentation, analytical methodology, and procedures on animal and human subjects to study drug products. Faculty educational background typically includes: 

•  Undergraduate degree (biology, biochemistry, engineering, chemistry) or Pharm.D.

• Graduate school in same disciplines or in pharmaceutical science disciplines

• Experience as a teaching assistant in graduate school (4-5 years)

• Ph.D. degree, Post-doctoral research (2 years)

 

Pharmacy Practice Faculty / Clinical Scientists

Pharmacy practice faculty have significant responsibility for patient care, in addition to their work in teaching and research. These academicians are called upon to be educators, practitioners, and clinical scientists. They serve as role models for pharmacy students and residents in many education, practice, and research settings. In their role as clinical scientists, these faculty are often involved in research with human subjects.

• Pharm.D Degree

•  Residency and/or Fellowship

• May include graduate (Masters and/or PhD) degree

 

Social, Economic, Behavioral, and Administrative Pharmacy Faculty

Social, economic, behavioral, and administrative pharmacy faculty are concerned with matters pertaining to people, health care, and pharmacy services (distributive and clinical) in professional, institutional, business, social, and other consumer-oriented environments. These faculty members teach professional and graduate students and perform research. Research training is in economics, epidemiology, social, psychological and cultural aspects of medication use and health policy. These faculty members usually have a pharmacy background, but it is not necessarily essential. A Ph.D degree in a related field is generally required.