Through the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s dual-degree programs with the Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Gillings School of Global Public Health, Pharm.D. students can expand their career goals beyond the traditional pharmacy curriculum.
For both the MBA and MPH dual-degree programs, students generally apply the first semester of their PY2 year. Once a student has been accepted into the dual degree program, they earn a Pharm.D. and a master’s of business administration or a Pharm.D. and a master’s of public health within five years.
Each year, an average of five students pursue a dual-degree track.
Pharm.D. – MBA
Nicolas Palacios had several years of pharmacy experience before arriving at UNC. Palacios is a current Pharm.D. student who will start his first
year of MBA classes this fall. He is expected to complete his MBA in 2021, and his Pharm.D. in 2022.
While Palacios had previously worked in clinical rotations, retail and community work, he realized he wanted to pursue a career beyond the clinical track.
“I was trying to pick a pharmacy school that had the most variety of career opportunities within pharmacy,” he said.
Palacios was awarded the Consortium Fellowship, which aims to promote underrepresented minorities in management – this award ultimately influenced his decision to start at Kenan-Flagler. He is also a recipient of the Thomas W. Hudson Jr. MBA Fellowship, which provides a stipend for an international experience through Kenan-Flagler.
Palacios said the dual-degree program will teach him how to “speak both languages,” and communicate with both medical professionals and businesspeople.
“I felt I could impact more patients’ lives if I worked in pharmaceutical industry,” he said.
“I do see myself combining some of my science background and also doing management.”
Grace Yook always knew she wanted to pursue a career in science, but didn’t decide on pharmacy school until her junior year at Wake Forest University.
Yook is a Pharm.D. and MBA dual-degree candidate who recently completed her first year at Kenan-Flagler. While in undergrad, she researched how nanotechnology could be used to deliver drugs within the body. She was searching for ways to combine business and healthcare, and she was already aware of the dual-degree program when she applied for her Pharm.D. at UNC.
She advises students who are potentially interested in the MBA program to apply, even if they are nervous about the process.
“The biggest advice that I have would be to just submit your application if you’re interested in it, just because there’s nothing to lose,” she said.
Yook has pursued multiple summer internships with the dual-degree program’s support, and she said the Pharm.D./MBA allows her resume to stand out. She worked at biotechnology company Biogen last year, where she focused on health outcomes research. This summer, she is interning at GlaxoSmithKline in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. area as an Associate Product Manager. She has also had multiple networking opportunities through Kenan-Flagler.
“You have incredible access to companies that you just wouldn’t have access to if you just Googled it,” she said. “So just from the get go, you have so much leverage in choosing different internships.”
Pharm.D. – MPH
Amy Guisinger, a dual-degree Pharm.D. and MPH candidate specializing in public health leadership, wants to be at the center of research.
Guisinger shifted career paths from chemical engineering to pursue a Pharm.D., saying that UNC stood out for unique opportunities such as the Eshelman Institute for Innovation – a funding engine to encourage and sustain groundbreaking research. After speaking with others at the School who had earned an MPH, she thought the dual-degree program would be a good way to get even more out of her Pharm.D. degree. She said the Gillings curriculum is unique since it is flexible and elective-based, and she has taken courses on research and program planning.
“Public health teaches you to analyze research methods and literature,” she said. “My classes have really taught me how to read literature and disseminate that to the general public.”
Guisinger completed her public health practicum requirement at research nonprofit RTI International, where she worked with a physician to update clinical practice guidelines. Her position allowed her to collaborate with government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ultimately, she hopes to work on research and development within the pharmaceutical industry and focus on making a global impact.
“In the industry, you’re in front of the cutting-edge research that’s saving millions of lives,” she said.
Ana Carolina da Silva Macarenco decided to attend pharmacy school in the United States
following her experiences at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. During this time, she received a research scholarship, which led her to pursue a position as a student research at the University of California-Davis. Upon starting at UNC, she attained a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and biochemistry from the University of Sao Paulo.
Macarenco, expecting to complete her Pharm.D. in 2021, is also in the process of pursuing a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) with a focus in Public Health Leadership. Recently, she completed her master’s thesis project on e-cigarette use and raising awareness among UNC students. During her time as an MPH student, she was awarded the 2019 Association of North Carolina Boards of Health (ANCBH) Vaughn Upshaw Scholarship in Public Health.
According to Macarenco, the biggest challenge of the dual-degree program is defining your goals and how pursuing an additional diploma will be beneficial in your career.
“With these types of programs, you need to discover what your interests in the program are and combine those with what you learn,” she said.
This summer, Macarenco is currently working as a pharmacy student intern, in administration and informatics at Johns Hopkins Hospital. For the time being, her goal after graduation is to work for a government agency such as the FDA. She has enjoyed how the dual-degree program at UNC has exposed her to different academic and professional environments.
“You learn so much – it’s not about the academic learning but your personal growth,” she said.
For more information about dual-degree pathways, visit the School’s webpage.