Career Options

Business Development

In pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, professionals in business development evaluate new business opportunities aligned with a company’s therapeutic product divisions and strategic goals. They examine in- and out-licensing opportunities, collaborative development deals, and joint ventures.  Roles in business development can entail strategy development, mergers and acquisitions, and competitive intelligence. This position often requires strong analytical skills, finance/consulting skillsets, and several years of industry experience.  Additionally, several top technology employers hire marketing, sales or consulting professionals to solve technical problems in the Healthcare Industry: Microsoft and IBM are two examples.  

Business Operations 

Business operations encompass a diverse array of commercially oriented positions within a pharmaceutical company, plus the standard corporate positions in areas such as finance, HR, and purchasing.  Students are valued in these functions—especially if one has a bachelor’s degree in a life sciences discipline. 

Hospital/Healthcare Administration 

Graduate Hoyas and MBAs can also be recruited for management roles within hospitals and healthcare providers.  They serve in senior administrative functions (operations, clinical management, strategic planning, finance, etc.)  to ensure the efficient and effective management of delivery of medical services and care.

 Product/Brand Management 

In pharmaceuticals and biotech, medical devices, and medical technology,  product management requires managing a team of people and working to execute a product’s strategy, determine price, distribution, brand image, forecasting, and overall strategy for one or more drugs. Product managers work with a therapeutics-focused business director or other representatives from upper management to set performance targets, then design an appropriate marketing strategy. Healthcare companies with over-the-counter (OTC) products hire marketers who function more as brand managers.  These marketers operate much like small business owners would to nurture their business.  A brand manager’s role involves monitoring the competitive landscape of the category in which the brand resides, developing messaging, and executing strategies to exploit market opportunities and deliver sales and profit projections for the business.    

Market Research/Analyst

Market research analysts collect and analyze data to support the marketing of medicines during every stage of the product life cycle, including pre-launch, launch, and when the products become established. They design and conduct market research studies, analyze accumulated data, and communicate findings to management to support business recommendations. These analysts usually work closely with product/brand managers. This position typically requires a bachelor’s degree in business, social science, or a related field; an MBA is frequently preferred. Some travel may be required in order to oversee field research. 

Consulting

Consultants conduct organizational evaluations and design improved systems, processes and procedures to help pharmaceutical, medical technology, healthcare payers, hospitals and other healthcare industry clients deliver higher quality of care at a lower cost. This often requires an understanding of changing government policies and current standards. Healthcare consulting projects may relate to finance, accounting, regulation and compliance, healthcare standards, marketing, billing, coding, and other business functions.  Firms that offer healthcare consulting services include Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, PwC, ECG Management Consultants, Kaiser Associates, and the Chartis Group.  Slalom and ZS Consulting  both focus a large percentage of their work in the healthcare field.  

Leadership Development Programs (LDPs)

Employers such as Bristol Myers Squibb, Cigna,  DaVita, Johnson &Johnson, Oak Street Health and others have offered such programs.    

Global Opportunities

“International/global health addresses the health of people living in low- and middle-income countries (sometimes known as developing countries). Many times, it also includes the health of displaced or traveling populations. Health concerns in these populations include not only infectious and tropical diseases (such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases and malaria), but also chronic and non-infectious diseases. The field of global health addresses all the same public health issues that are domestic health concerns, like mental illness, trauma, gender-based violence, age-related illnesses and conditions. However, the solutions to these issues must be innovative to address unique challenges with international populations.” 

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