Careers in Pharmacy

Have you thought about becoming a pharmacist? Here are some facts you may or may not know:

There are different kinds of pharmacists, including....

Academic Pharmacists - These are instructors in the field of Pharmacy Science.

Armed Services - These are people serving in the military as pharmacists, who may work with injured or ill servicemen and women, or may work on research of biological terrorism.

Industry - These are pharmacists who are sales reps for drug manufacturers. They usually travel to clinics and hospitals to let them know of new products available to treat their patients. If your doctor has ever given you a sample of a drug to try, it most likely came from a pharmacy sales rep.

Science/Research Pharmacists - these are the people who develop new drugs, including finding drugs to target a specific condition and testing them to be sure they are safe, and what side effects they produce.

The most common kind of pharmacist, however, is called a Community Pharmacist, because he or she works right in your community at local drug stores and the pharmacy department of stores like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Cub, etc. and may also work within a hospital.

Coursework to become a pharmacist will include biology, chemistry, anatomy & physiology, biochemistry, ethics, physics, natural science, math, and business administration, as well as social sciences and humanities.

All pharmacists (they are called 'chemists' in the United Kingdom) must complete a Pharm.D., or Doctor of Pharmacy, degree. This includes two years or more of undergraduate work plus another 4 years of professional pharmacy study. Before you can start work as a pharmacist, frequently you will complete an internship for 1 or 2 years, although it is not always required. You must pass the NAPLEX test, which certifies that you are capable to be a pharmacist and tests your scientific knowledge, and the MPJE, which certifies that you know the legal aspects of being a pharmacist.  You must pass these two exams before you become certified.

What kind of pharmacist do you want to be? Do you want to do research? Sales? Work in the Armed Forces? Do you want to work with pure science or with people?

You may want to find a career with the United States Food and Drug Administration, the FDA. The FDA regulates food safety and also medicine-related things like over the counter (sometimes called OTC) drugs for humans and animals; medical devices including pacemakers and insulin pumps; machines that use radiation; cosmetics; tobacco products, and dental treatments. As a pharmacist, the items you sell or dispense will have to meet FDA standards. Read more about the FDA here: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-basics/what-does-fda-regulate


A successful pharmacist working in local drug stores has been entrusted with a highly responsible role. He or she will enjoy working with people, from doctors and nurses to patients who have come in to consult or have a prescription filled. A pharmacist must 'catch' a situation where a drug has been prescribed that won't work with, or may be harmful, when taken with a patient's other prescriptions, or when a patient is allergic to a particular medication.


Since new medications are being developed all the time, you need to stay updated constantly on these new drugs and how they work. You will likely have continuing education throughout your career.

You need to be comfortable with technology and business practices, and be aware that you may work any shift in a pharmacy that is open 24 hours a day. You will also be interacting with Pharmacy Technicians who assist you in running the pharmacy, as well as security (keeping all medications under lock and key-safeguarding against theft), awareness of drug abuse and fraud, planning your supplies so as to not run out of stocked medications as well as making sure they are being stored properly, and emergency situations.


Have you heard about drug companies (all of them together sometimes are called "Big Pharma") overpricing drugs we use? Read more about that here: https://www.investors.com/news/technology/drug-prices-what-we-know-about-rising-prescription-prices/

Since you will be more available than many doctors, patients will often ask you about a drug or a treatment; you have to retain a vast amount of information on many different drugs and how they work. On a given day, you may be asked questions about diabetes, wound care, depression medications, cold relief, acid reflux, vitamins, or high blood pressure.

Meds for pets are often filled at "people'" pharmacies 

If you are highly interested in chemistry and biology, how the body reacts to drug treatments, and the well-being of people as a whole, and if you take an interest in people who come to you for information about their prescriptions, you might make a great pharmacist.

Here is a website that answers lots of questions you might have: http://www.aacp.org/resources/studentaffairspersonnel/admissionsguidelines/Documents/studentbrochure2.pdf

Marie Curie

If you've heard of Marie Curie, you probably think: Radiation. Scientist. France. That's maybe all you know. But her story is much more than that.

'Marie' was born Maria Sklodowska in Poland November 7, 1867, to parents who were both teachers. Her father taught math and physics, and her mother ran a boarding house/school until Maria was born. While never wealthy, her father found it hard to get a job when he supported the Polish rebellion to free them from Russian rule. Maria's mother died when Maria was only 10.


Her father brought home experiments for her and her siblings to try out, and taught them as his own students. When she finished her basic schooling, Maria found she was not allowed to attend college in Poland because she was a woman.

One option was the 'Flying University' or 'Floating University,' a sort of underground school for women to learn the same as men. She and her sister Bronislawa took courses there, and then decided that since a woman could study alongside men in Paris, that first Bronislawa would go while Maria supported her, and then Maria would go while her sister supported her. To earn money, Maria took jobs as a governess. In one home, while she took care of the younger children, there was a grown son named Kaczmeirz with whom she fell in love. However, his parents didn't approve of him marrying a penniless woman (meaning, her father was poor), and so sadly they had to break up. Ironically, her sister Bronislawa fell in love with another man also named Kaczmeirz and did marry him.

                                                                Maria on the left, Bronislawa on the right, 1886. Maria is 21.
.


It wasn't until 1891 that Maria left Poland for France (at age 26)
to finish her college degree at The Sorbonne in Paris. She barely had enough to get by and almost starved in the process, but she persevered, being interested in the qualities of magnetism. She met Pierre Curie, a French man who taught physics there. They were married in 1895. She wanted to return to Poland to teach, and Pierre declared he loved her so much, he would stop what he was working on and move to Poland with her; but when she realized she wouldn't be allowed to teach, she decided to remain in Paris, and she became a French citizen, then going by 'Marie.' She and Pierre had two daughters, Eve and Irene.


In 1903, Marie became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her study of radiation. That prize was shared with her husband Pierre and Henri Bequerel. Pierre died in 1906. He was run over by a horse and carriage. In 1911, Marie once again won a Nobel Prize for her work in chemistry. This made her the first person, and the only woman, to win twice. In her acceptance speech, she noted that she felt she shared the award with Pierre. As an adult, their daughter Irene would also study radioactivity and would also be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

From NobelPeacePrize.org, a description of what Marie studied:
Marie Curie studied the radiation of all compounds containing the known radioactive elements, including uranium and thorium, which she later discovered was also radioactive. She also found out that:
- you can exactly measure the strength of the radiation from uranium;
- the intensity of the radiation is proportional to the amount of uranium or thorium in the compound - no matter what compound it is;
- the ability to emit radiation does not depend on the arrangement of the atoms in a molecule; it must be linked to the interior of the atom itself - a revolutionary discovery!
When she realized that some uranium and/or thorium compounds had stronger radiation than uranium, she made the following hypothesis: there must be an unknown element in the compound which had a stronger radiation than uranium or thorium. Her work aroused the interest of her husband, Pierre Curie, who stopped his own research on crystals and joined the "detective work" with his wife. And Marie was proven right: in 1898 the Curies discovered two new radioactive elements: radium (named after the Latin word for ray) and polonium (named after Marie's home country, Poland).  

                                 This watch with 'glow in the dark' hands was quite a novelty in its time. Did you ever have a toy that glowed in the dark?



The 'laboratory' Marie and Pierre used to study was nothing but a shed with bad ventilation. A proper lab wasn't built for them until 1906.


They were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Physics in 1903, but declined to travel to Stockholm to accecpt it. The money from the prize helped fund their research going forward.


While another scientist, Roentgen, discovered X-rays, the Curies studied radium and discovered it could be used to create Xrays as well. It has some relation to phosphorescence, like in these fish:

During World War I, Marie Curie helped create and manage traveling X-ray trucks to help with the wounded. Initially, it was thought X-rays were completely harmless. While that is not true, and X-rays these days use a fraction of the substance that they used to, X-rays led to the development of radiation therapy to shrink tumors. Digital photography is also used now, for such applications as dental imaging. Without first knowing about X-rays, we would not have CT scans or MRIs to 'see' into the body to diagnose injuries and illnesses. The Curies' work also led to the concept of using sound waves to create images. One important use of Ultrasound is to diagnose and pinpoint heart disease.

Not dancing creatures, but a heart pumping.

While her work was recognized as very important, she still did not have the respect of her countrymen in France or in Poland. She was harshly criticized for an affair she had, and was 'accused' of being a Jewish terrorist, spy, and all manner of fabricated things, mostly because she was a woman. Marie died at age 66 of anemia due to such massive exposure to radiation: her books and personal items are placed in lead boxes and can only be handled if proper safety precautions  are followed. However, her contributions to science and medicine will improve lives forever.