Medical Affairs Intern: A Day in the Life
Author: Alex McQuade
Editor: Brentsen Wolf, PharmD
One of the most challenging parts of pharmacy school is trying to figure out what your career will look like when you graduate. As an incoming P2 at Purdue University, it seems like I find a new pharmacy career of interest almost daily. Even though the public might only think of pharmacists in the retail setting, that is just one drop in the ocean of opportunities the degree can unlock. Since deciding to become a pharmacist, I have often thought about ways to make an impact on a large scale. My favorite part of retail pharmacy is the opportunity to problem-solve. I always wondered how I could create solutions for a larger population. This thought brought me to several research projects at Purdue where I hoped to use my patient-first approach to contribute to the design of therapeutics and diagnostics. Even though I enjoyed my time on research projects, the most fulfilling aspect was presenting the work. I loved breaking down complex topics in medicine to people of all types of academic backgrounds. Medical affairs industry careers appealed to me because pharmacists in that setting serve as the communication between healthcare providers and the company.
After speaking with college faculty about my interest in industry, I got involved in the Industry Pharmacists Organization chapter at my school. I attended meetings for the organization, and it became clear that the best way to find out if this field was a good fit was to get direct experience. In the summer of 2023, I began what became an 8-month application process for an internship in industry. After submitting hundreds of applications for pharma companies online, I got 3 interviews and 1 offer. Even though this process required a lot of effort, it taught me so much about my strengths and weaknesses as an applicant! Additionally, since I was a P1, many companies wanted a candidate with more therapeutic knowledge. I knew this during the process, but I still applied for every open opportunity because I knew getting experience earlier would be advantageous. Thankfully, I interviewed with my current company of employment, BeiGene, and got an offer. This offer felt like a miracle because they were looking to provide an all-encompassing first experience in the industry. A major perk was the ability to work with several subfunctions in the medical affairs group. BeiGene is a global company that makes oncology medications for solid tumors and hematology. Most of their workers are remote so I get to work with professionals all over the world!
I am now at the halfway point in my internship and this summer is flying by. I have gotten the chance to meet so many friendly industry professionals who have given me excellent career advice. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to work on projects in strategy, medical information, medical communication, training, omnichannel communication, patient engagement, and more. My mentor works in strategy for solid tumor medications at the company, but she made this internship extremely flexible for my co-intern and me. She encourages us to work with the subfunctions we are interested in on projects that will have a lasting impact on the company. Although I cannot speak to the specifics of the projects we are working on, in the remainder of this post, I will talk about what a busy day looks like at this internship.
I started my day at 6:30 AM with a cup of iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich. After eating, I went to the gym, showered, and prepared for work. At 9:00 AM, I opened my laptop and signed onto a virtual desktop. Since the interns are working with confidential materials, we can’t work offline. We must sign onto a virtual workspace that runs on Windows to do work and join meetings. Typically, I have between 2-5 meetings in a day. However, on Fridays, BeiGene has a quiet day where they try to avoid meetings so everyone can catch up on work. I like to plan for work so I don't get sidetracked between meetings. My first task to complete was an analysis of another company’s competitor drug approvals and requests. The other intern and I developed a slide deck that examined clinical trials and approval requests to compare our assets. We investigated the trials we have done to determine if there are any strategic moves that the other company made that we haven’t. After wrapping up this project, I attended my first meeting which was a check-in with the head of North America Medical Affairs. He oversees my manager and likes to learn more about the work I have been doing. After talking to him about the competitor analysis I was doing, I started on my next project.
I am working with medical information to create a training course for new hires in the field medical (MSL) department to learn how to file information requests. This has given me a chance to learn more about the subfunction and contribute something that will be useful for their team in the future. This course is based on slides they previously needed live training sessions for. This will replace many hours of labor that the team would need to put in for training in the future. The remaining portion of this project is to translate the text-to-speech into 6 different languages so teams all over the world can be trained. At noon, I had a protein shake and got back to work. I joined a meeting for implementing the 3rd quarter strategic initiatives. Even though this meeting had a lot of information that I did not understand, it was impactful to learn how the medical affairs team collaborates and plans for a quarter.
Following that meeting, I met a pharmacist working in early clinical development. His role mainly involves preparing clinical trials. He mentioned utilizing his pharmacokinetics knowledge daily to determine patient eligibility for clinical trials. Additionally, he worked to determine when adverse effects in trials are drug-related. I have also had the opportunity to meet pharmacists at BeiGene in pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, and marketing as well! It was so interesting to see that pharmacists can play an impactful role in so many areas of the company. I truly feel that anyone could find a good fit for them in the industry, depending on their skill set and interests.
Between my previous meeting and the last of the day, I worked with my co-intern to create a resource document that healthcare providers can use to get continuing education on immunotherapies for their patients. Since our medication is an immunotherapy, the company likes to provide updated information about how drugs in our therapeutic class work. We formatted the resource as an Excel sheet with clickable links for varying methods including podcasts, webinars, and training courses.
I ended my workday at 6:00 PM after meeting with a field medical director (MSL) where I gained insight into what day-to-day tasks look like for an MSL. He talked about needing to know the medication and therapeutic area inside and out so that he can answer high-level questions that doctors may have. He works as an MSL for a drug that is not yet approved by the FDA, so his work is focused on clinical trials. He currently meets with doctors to pitch, set up, and check in on clinical trials for their drugs. He gave my co-intern and me great networking advice. Everyone I have met so far has been eager to educate us about their job and get us exposure to tasks that we would do every day in an industry job.
Even though I have only been in this role for 6 weeks, I feel like I have gained months of experience. Being able to immerse myself in an industry role has introduced me to many of the strengths I have in task execution. I was so excited about this internship, but I could never imagine how much I would learn. I encourage anyone considering a path into the industry to take on a rotation or internship at a pharmaceutical company if given the chance. Even if you do not enjoy the role, you will still learn so much about time management and organization. For those who are looking to get their first experience in the industry, reach out to alumni from your pharmacy school to learn more about what the job is like. The pharmacists who work in the industry love to share their experiences with students and would be happy to help.
Lastly, make sure to highlight your problem-solving and patient advocacy skills from other pharmacy settings in your interviews. Community pharmacies often serve as the most accessible healthcare setting to patients, so the insight you gain from that setting is key. Additionally, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I would love to answer any questions about the different roles within the industry and how to get started!
Author Bio: Alex McQuade is an incoming P2 at Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy. He grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania which is 20 minutes away from Hershey, where the chocolate factory is. At Purdue, Alex is a member of the honors college and is pursuing a second major in sociology, certificates in medical humanities and nuclear pharmacy, and a minor in psychology. Outside of classes, Alex is involved in the Curriculum Committee, Industry Pharmacists Organization, Nuclear Pharmacy Society, and QueerRx. Alex is currently involved in a scoping review project at IU Health exploring food insecurity as it pertains to cancer. He has previously worked on projects related to cancer therapeutic development, foodborne illness diagnostics, data analysis of blood tests for Alzheimer’s, and protein folding for COVID-19 inhibitor design. In his free time, Alex likes to write, produce, record, and release original pop music. He is eager to learn about the multitude of opportunities within pharmacy that can make a large-scale impact.
Contact email: ajmcquad@purdue.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-mcquade-08686726b/
*Information presented on RxTeach does not represent the opinion of any specific company, organization, or team other than the authors themselves. No patient-provider relationship is created.