Pediatric Emergency Medicine Specialist Transition to Clinical Development
Beth Emerson, MD, MBA is a pediatric emergency medicine physician who practiced as an academic physician with a focus on quality improvement. Her clinical career allowed her to view the healthcare industry as a system, broadening her scope and allowing her to see opportunities to serve many.
As she evaluated her career opportunities, she made connections with people that work in the pharmaceutical industry and saw the possibility of helping patients in a different capacity. Through these discussions she realized the importance of physicians in the pharmaceutical industry; patient focus, patient safety – all things that made her passionate about going into medicine.
In October 2020 she had an opportunity to join a small, public biopharmaceutical company that was growing rapidly. Her current role is in clinical development. In her role, she describes having the possibility to interact with physicians practicing in the community, learn from her clinical operations colleagues, problem solve the issues related to conducting clinical trials, build protocols and assess potential new assets that the company could acquire.
Beth started her role in pharma during the covid-19 pandemic. After six months into the role, her biggest surprise is related to
“the possibility… so much excitement, science, discovery; I did not know I would have all of these opportunities”
She continues to learn about the opportunities for physicians in industry such as medical affairs and pharmacovigilance and is enjoying learning from these professionals.
Describing her day-to-day work, she explained that “no two days look the same”. Work depends upon the phase of the project and she has time for professional development including podcasts and online trainings.
Beth’s MBA was a general MBA – she did consider a healthcare specific MBA but wanted to continue to grow and learn to consider the world from a different perspective. Her MBA was in Texas and she had a chance to be exposed to the gas and oil industry. She pursued her MBA with a desire to learn about the world and consider healthcare systems with a different perspective. She reflects on her MBA as an introspective time where she evaluated how she approached problems, developed her leadership style and learned to market herself. She does not believe an MBA is necessary to land a role in the pharmaceutical industry, but for her it was an important development experience that contributed to her overall personal and professional development.
Providing advice for physicians considering the pharmaceutical industry as a career path, she suggests “putting yourself out there, exploring, asking people about their experiences. Networking is critical.”
“It is important to talk to people about what is new and exciting
about what they are doing in their careers”
In addition, introspective thinking about what drove you to pursue medicine and what beliefs about that drive align with the pharmaceutical industry.
Her last words of wisdom for a physician considering the pharmaceutical industry as a career path include:
- embrace your specialty and skills
- consider what you are passionate about
- keep your options option
- network and ask questions
“I consider myself really fortunate that this is the next step in my career”