pharmacologists & medicinal chemists outsourced? pharmacist=only viable career left?

[poopstation]

pharmacologists & medicinal chemists outsourced? pharmacist=only viable career left?

i'm an amateur chemist and have been unhappy with my current career choice for many years. i've been doing my current career for 12 years and can't stand it anymore, i feel like i'm wasting my life away doing something i loathe day-in, day-out. i have a passion for chemistry and pharmacology but realize that chemistry, as a career, is on the verge of becoming extinct in the U.S. i've been seriously considering taking out student loans and going back to college to pursue a career in something i really enjoy. the top of the list being medicinal chemist or pharmacologist.

i've been searching various forums that have been mentioning that trying to become a medicinal chemist or pharmacologist would be a mistake because the jobs just aren't here anymore (in the U.S.). According to pharmacists online, many pharmacology students have switched up to become a pharmacist instead because of a lack of pharmacology jobs.

i'm not very familiar with the job-side of these careers but it seems that most pharmacist jobs are too much of a sales and consulting job. but it seems like unless you have connections, that for the average person interested in a career along these lines - that pharmacist is the only viable job remaining.

is there anyone here that is in the field and has some observations they could share? any online resources i could read that gives a breakdown of similar/related careers?

 

[FlowerFarm]

Hello, i'm a final year pharmacy student studying in England with experience in various pharmacy fields so hopefully I can help.

Basically your correct in what your saying that there aren't many pharmacology or chemistry jobs these days, pharmacy however seems to be pretty secure as a profession and is likely to stay this way for some tome; >95% of people on my course having graduate jobs lined up already. That said I'd give it some thought before choosing it as a career choice, here are a few points to consider:

Your half right that pharmacy is a consulting sales job, but most of your time and increasingly in the future what pharmacists are involved in is direct patient care, optimising medications and looking out for drug interactions. This is especially the case in hospital based pharmacy where around 15% of pharmacists work, here they tend to be specialists in a particular field or condition and can often prescribe medicines too (that's where i'm off to in a few months! ).

Some perks of pharmacy are that it tends to be a well paid and secure job and most pharmacists I know genuinely enjoy their job, especially the ones who went into it for patient care reasons and not just the money! most of the time your communicating with members of the public about their medicines and helping people which can be rewarding.

That said if its chemistry your interested in there's very little of that involved once you graduate (the drugs come in boxes really so you dont make them up yourself on site as much as you used to). Also you have to learn about lots of tedious things such as laws and regulations which can be a chore, most of us in our course are happy to be leaving soon.

Anyway I hope i've enlightened you a bit on this, give me a shout if there's anything else you'd like to know I worked in construction before pharmacy, I hated it and am so glad I made a career change....

 

[Jimmy_Pop]

i've been searching various forums that have been mentioning that trying to become a medicinal chemist or pharmacologist would be a mistake because the jobs just aren't here anymore (in the U.S.). According to pharmacists online, many pharmacology students have switched up to become a pharmacist instead because of a lack of pharmacology jobs.

Is this hard data or just heresay on some forums?

I don't mean to discount the pharmacists, because they obviously know more about this than I (someone not in the field) does, but there can be a lot of exaggerated doom and gloom on sites where people discuss career prospects, and a lot of "grass is greener" stuff about other careers.

 

[Refluxer]

I am both a medicinal chemist and pharmacist. Started pharmacy school, switched to medicinal chemistry, 5 years. When I started uni pharma-biz was chomping entire classes of chemists and similars. When graduation in chemistry came, the pharma companies here had really decimated. So I completed to get a pharmacist license. It's a shitty business, at least over here, run by risk capitalists who think a pharmacy can be run like a grocery store. My current aim is to find a research position in medicinal chemistry or psychopharmacology. Will likely have to go to a neighboring country.

Working in a pharmacy has some fun sides to it also though! A disproportionate amount of interesting characters to meet. Amusing questions, etc. The general population is really clueless when it comes to pharmaceuticals, which can be both very annoying and satisfactory (when you help someone understand their medications, stop doctors possibly very harmful mistakes, etc).

Feel free to PM me if you have further questions.

Cheers!