If you would like a general overview of careers for physicians in the pharmaceutical industry, read this post first.

Now onto this week’s career spotlight: Drug safety physician.

Drug safety or pharmacovigilance physicians help develop the safety profile of a new drug.

Responsibilities include

Monitor, interpret, and document adverse events that arise during clinical trials.

Use clinical judgment and knowledge of disease to determine if an adverse event is a side effect of the new agent, or due to the underlying medical condition of the study subject, or something else.

Determine what type of study participant will be more likely to develop an adverse event.

Contribute to safety reports, Informed Consent Forms, and Investigator’s Brochures.

Is this the role for you?

This role might be a good fit if you have the following:

Skills:

You have broad clinical knowledge: Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, hospital medicine. Some require a medical license and board certification.

Proficiency in Microsoft Suite (especially Word, PowerPoint and Excel)

Effective Communication (including presenting and writing)

Time management and project management.

Personality:

You are attentive to detail and like to solve problems.

You enjoy detective work (like combing through a medical chart to figure out if the symptom the study subject is experiencing is from the drug, the underlying disease, or something else).

Career preferences:

You prefer to work 9-5 with weekends off (usually).

You want a full-time position (PT positions in safety are rare).

There are fully remote options.

Salary:

The starting base salary varies. The full compensation package includes benefits, annual bonus, stock options, CME, and more. 

Estimated annual base salary range: ~$180-$250K

Tips on how to land the job

Roles to search for: Associate/medical director drug safety/pharmacovigilance, safety physician

You don’t necessarily need prior pharma experience, but broad clinical experience is usually a requirement.

Some ways you can show your interest in pharma:

• Take a course. There are several free courses available.
• Volunteer to perform physical exams on healthy subjects participating in phase 1 clinical trials near you.
• Enroll your patients in a clinical trial.
• Join a Pharma speaker’s bureau.
• Write an article on a pharma-related topic that interests you and post it on your LinkedIn profile.

How to know if it’s an entry-level job posting for a safety physician?

Associate Medical Director or Medical Director titles are the industry equivalent of attending physician.

You supervise and direct projects, not people.

The NEED requirements don’t include prior pharma experience, or require less than 3 years of pharma experience. In this case, your broad clinical experience is all you need.  

The PREFERRED requirements are aspirational. This means you can apply even if you don’t meet the preferred requirements.

Do you think you might enjoy being a safety physician? What questions do you have? Let me know- I would love to help you!

Next week, I will spotlight a career in Medical Affairs. You will learn about the skills and experience you need, compensation, and tips on how to land the job.