Last week, at the NIH Career Symposium, I was a panelist in a session on global public health careers. Public health is getting a lot of attention now, especially among scientists who desire tangible impact. The other panelists worked in government public health agencies, and I was the only panelist in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, I share my notes from preparing for the session and some thoughts after the discussion with attendees.
Lori Conlan, Director of Postdoc Services at the NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education, is the mastermind behind the NIH Career Symposium. She assigned me to the global public health session, probably because I have a public health background and because I work in a global organization.
I wouldn't be surprised if you think that public health careers are typically in government or non-profit entities. Given that line of thought, one could argue that I’m not really in a public health career. After all, my employer is very much in the private sector (side note: did you know that there are non-profit drug companies?).
However, you might also consider that drugs and medicines are part of the large and complex picture of overall human health. In the context of drugs, I have worked in epidemiology, real world data/evidence (RWD/RWE), and now health economics and outcomes research (HEOR). I have training in public health, and this experience is important for working in the pharmaceutical industry.
Global Public Health Careers Session at the NIH Career Symposium
The other speakers in the session with me are working in government public health organizations: Olga Pena from the Public Health Agency in Canada; and Ravikiran Bhairavabhotla from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I was the lone pharmaceutical industry speaker.
I think that public health may have the COVID-19 pandemic to thank for increased interest. The session was very well attended. A few attendees were trainees in a public health-oriented discipline like epidemiology or healthcare administration. By contrast, many of the attendees were bench scientists either in training or early in their careers.
Questions we were prepared to answer
Lori had provided the following questions for us to prepare for the session. Given that we had mainly Q&A during the session, I did discuss some of these topics in various contexts, but not all.
Introduce yourself, Current job, Career path changes
I am currently a health economist at Genentech. My PhD was in molecular biology, and through the NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, I received my MPH. I completed a postdoc in molecular epidemiology, and I started working as an epidemiologist at Genentech in 2013. Since then I've had several roles in epidemiology, RWD, and now health economics.
What is the best/worst part of your job?
The best parts of my job are:
- Always learning on the job
- Seeing the impact of my work
- Having colleagues all over the world
The worst parts of my job are:
- Frequent corporate organizational restructuring
- Changes in internal and external priorities that I cannot control
Currently on your to-do list (long- and short-term projects)
I'm helping to launch a new oncology product in the US. Therefore, I am responsible for the health economics strategy. The tactics include a cost-effectiveness analysis to show the value of the product and a budget impact model to demonstrate the affordability of the product. I will communicate the results of these analyses in abstracts, manuscripts, and field materials. I'm also preparing a payer advisory board meeting to get input on evidence generation activities to support this new product.
How did you get your job?
When I found out that my prior group was going to be dissolved (see above about my dislike for the constant organizational restructuring!), I immediately "activated" my professional network. Essentially, I told all my contacts internally and externally that I was looking for a new opportunity.
A friend and colleague revealed that she was leaving her job for another company, and she recommended that I may be able to replace her. She referred me to her manager, and I went through the interview process. However, I was not chosen for the position, as the hiring manager decided on an internal candidate.
Surprisingly, about six months later, the hiring manager reached out to let me know that a different position had opened in the group. She encouraged me to apply and interview again. This time, I was selected.
See this story about how I got my first-ever position at Genentech after my postdoc fellowship.
Who did you network with?
I think back to each role I've held over the past years. I keep in touch with probably at least one or two people from each position. Fortunately, I count many of them as friends too. Therefore, I try to connect with them every few months or one to two times per year. I consider all of them as part of my network.
How were you competitive for the position?
For my current position, I came with RWD/RWE experience. One of the people that interviewed me said that he preferred to hire someone who had at least two of the following three skill sets:
- Health economics and outcomes research (HEOR)
- Real world data (RWD)/epidemiology
- Patient-reported outcomes
While I only had one of those three, I stressed my ability to learn quickly and deliver on projects. Plus, I brought prior experience in the company's global organization. In addition, I communicated team leadership skills as well as my ability to influence and communicate with cross-functional stakeholders.
What advice if they wanted your job?
As suggested by a senior leader who had interviewed me, candidates in our group should have hands-on skills in health economics, epidemiology, RWD, and/or patient-reported outcomes. This can come from formal coursework in a degree or certificate program. Candidates can also gain this experience during internships or work at contract research organizations.
One of the most important skills for working successfully in a cross-functional setting is communication. Specifically, candidates need to be able to explain very complex concepts to a non-expert audience.
What did the NIH Career Symposium attendees want to know?
It was very challenging to answer the general questions we got from attendees:
- How do I transition into public health from another field?
- How do I get a job in public health without public health experience?
- What is the career trajectory in public health?
- How do I get a public health job outside of the US?
Public health is a discipline
As all three of us panelists stressed to the attendees, public health is a broad umbrella term that covers a lot of different disciplines and areas of work. Just take a look at all the departments at any school of public health, for example, John’s Hopkins or UC Berkeley. The following are just a few:
- Maternal and child health
- Environmental health
- Healthcare management
- Health policy
- Social and behavioral interventions
- Quantitative methods, like epidemiology and biostatistics
Just as immunology and bioengineering are disciplines with degree programs, public health is an area of formal study and practice as well. Degrees like Master of Public Health and Doctorate of Public Health exist precisely for people who want the credentials to go along with the expertise. In many cases, the credentials are required, and at which level and in which concentration will depend on the job and career trajectory.
Public health work also spans from research to practice, etc. All three of us panelists are in very different types of organizations and have different responsibilities, stakeholders, and rewards. Therefore, figuring out what type of public health work you want to do will help you determine what steps are needed to get there.
I encourage trainees to explore the public health causes or initiatives of their interest, determine which organizations are in that environment, and look at their job openings. These postings will describe the responsibilities. Do these tasks reflect the work that you want to do on a daily basis?
The postings will also list the qualifications or requirements. Do you have the training or experience needed? Importantly, what are the transferable skills that you have that might also make you marketable for public health work?
How did I end up in a public health career in the pharmaceutical industry?
You might wonder how a basic science PhD like me ended up working in a public health career in the pharmaceutical industry. Check out my podcast interview with The Public Health Millennial here.
Briefly, these are the steps I took:
During my PhD
During my PhD in molecular biology, I took some public health courses: epidemiology, environmental health, and biostatistics. For some of these, I took the courses without credit, with the professors’ permission. For other courses, I convinced my PhD program they were relevant for my degree.
I decided that I was passionate about disease prevention. This is why I did my doctoral research in a vaccine lab. This gave my research, though at the bench, a strong connection to public health.
In addition, I was also active in student government and other activities on campus. Not only did I interact frequently with non-scientists, I also practiced leading teams and networking.
Formal training in public health
After my PhD, I found a fellowship that offered the opportunity to get my MPH. The focus of the fellowship was on cancer prevention, about which I did not know much. However, I thought that cancer prevention aligned well with my passion for disease prevention.
During this training, I got involved with local public health organizations. I interned at a state health department. I volunteered in the exhibit hall when the APHA conference was in town.
When I began my postdoctoral fellowship at the NCI, I realized that epidemiology was the research discipline that made sense to me, given my training as a scientist. But unlike at the bench, I was able to ask human health questions. As a molecular epidemiologist, I could collect and use data to answer those questions.
Thankfully, I found a postdoc mentor who had made the transition from a different scientific discipline into epidemiology, so he understood the work that it would take from him to help me do that too.
Job search
After 4 years of doing hands-on epidemiology research, I applied to epidemiology jobs in the pharmaceutical industry. I had research projects using the types of data (registries, administrative claims data) that my industry colleagues used too. While I did not have experience working in the company, the research skills I had were relevant.
In addition, I had done guest lectures and taught an intro epidemiology course during my training. Therefore, I could demonstrate opportunities to explain complex concepts to a non-expert audience, which is something you have to do in industry with cross-functional colleagues.
Plus, I had published scientific journal articles and presented (oral and poster) at scientific conferences. These are activities we do as researchers in industry as well, so I showed that I had been successful in those activities.
Last notes
In summary, public health is a broad discipline. You'll need to figure out what area(s) of public health you want to work in; you also need to explore whether the jobs in that area of public health have the type of work that you want to do. Plus, transitioning into a career in public health may require additional training. Importantly, gaining relevant experience will help you get a job in public health.
The skills relevant to public health are often relevant in the pharmaceutical industry. I'm pleased that the NIH Career Symposium gave trainees an opportunity to see how public health careers can be in both public and private sectors.