Post‐graduate pharmacy fellowships: The current state of affairs

Abstract

While pharmacy residencies are relatively unanimous in their focus on cultivating quality clinical pharmacists with exceptional clinical knowledge and practice skills, post‐graduate pharmacy fellowships offer training opportunities to develop skills for successful entry into other career types, with major differences between and within various types including pharmaceutical industry, clinical practice, academia/education, and other fellowship programs. In general, pharmaceutical industry fellowships are designed to prepare pharmacy graduates to primarily contribute to various aspects of pharmaceutical drug development and marketing with skills aligned with a specific functional area within pharmaceutical industry. Clinical practice, academia/education, and other research fellowships generally focus on developing research skills in targeted areas ranging from specific therapeutic areas, teaching and learning, or disciplines of research. Most fellowship programs provide training and experiences to develop vital translatable skills such as interpersonal, written, and verbal communication, time and project management, leadership, and teamwork. Conversely, fellowship training can differ considerably, even within individual fellowship types and programs, in specific purpose, structure, required activities, funding, collaborative affiliations, and the specific career a graduate may be qualified to pursue after program completion. The objectives of this article are to differentiate various types of post‐graduate pharmacy fellowship programs and to review strengths and potential areas for improvement across all post‐graduate pharmacy fellowship programs.

From education to practice—2024 update: An opinion paper of the Drug Information Practice and Research Network of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy

“…Postgraduate fellowships usually involve 1–2 years of highly individualized career path training experiences, and while traditional fellowships were largely focused on research, many of today's fellowships often provide the opportunity to become highly skilled in one area of practice 24 . Fellowships are continuously evolving with creation of new programs, and encompass various areas such as DI, industry, clinical practice, academia, managed care, and organizational leadership.…”

“…Fellowships are continuously evolving with creation of new programs, and encompass various areas such as DI, industry, clinical practice, academia, managed care, and organizational leadership. For example, within the pharmaceutical industry, over 20% of pharmacists have reported previous fellowship training 24 . Industry fellowships train pharmacists for roles in drug development, clinical research, regulatory affairs, medical affairs, medical information, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoepidemiology, and drug advertising.…”

Building a robust pharmacy research program: Reflections from a large healthcare system not affiliated with a college of pharmacy

“…Depending on residency trained individuals focused solely on patient care will not be sufficient to grow the pharmacy research pipeline. Post‐PharmD research fellowships have increased in number and scope over the past few decades 37 . Research fellowship with at least 70% research related activities, focused on academia and various specialty practice areas or particular research skills (e.g.…”

Postgraduate pharmacy training: Much progress and much more to do

“…With regards to postgraduate fellowship programs, Jarrett et al provide a comprehensive review of the diverse categories of fellowship training programs currently available (e.g., clinical practice, pharmaceutical industry and agencies, academic/educational, and managed care) including the typical program structure, required activities, funding sources, and future career opportunities for graduates of each type of program 9 . Important areas for continued improvement are also highlighted including the need for transparent recruitment timelines, standardization of programs, and the need for a comprehensive repository of programs.…”