Abstract
Introduction: Pharmacy fellowships are post-doctoral training programs intended to prepare pharmacy graduates for careers in research or the pharmaceutical industry. There are currently 131 pharmacy fellowship programs in the United States, but standardization, interest among students, and overall research regarding these fellowships are ambiguous at best. This literature review was conducted to describe common facilitators, challenges, contents and outcomes of fellowships, and to evaluate the group of programs as a whole. Methods: To do this, articles were identified using PubMed and a Google search engine, and were reviewed in context with the study goals. The primary search term used was “pharmacy fellowship(s).” Results: Key findings included articles describing the current state of pharmacy fellowships, the need for standardization, and how to pursue a pharmacy fellowship. A total of twelve articles were selected due to their relevance to the scope of this article. Conclusion: The current state of fellowships, their subgroups, efforts to develop and organize the group of programs, and possible careers following training are discussed. Benefits and limitations of the current fellowship system are summarized based on the current and relevant literature. Furthermore, this literature review is intended to serve as an accumulation of the current data on pharmacy fellowships to guide students interested in applying for a fellowship program
Highlights
Pharmacy fellowships are post-doctoral training programs intended to prepare pharmacy graduates for careers in research or the pharmaceutical industry
This literature review is intended to serve as an accumulation of the current data on pharmacy fellowships to guide students interested in applying for a fellowship program
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) defines pharmacy fellowship as “a directed, highly individualized, postgraduate program designed to prepare the participant to become an independent researcher” with the ultimate goal of preparing the fellow for both independent and collaborative scientific research [2]. Despite these programs leading to non-traditional opportunities and career paths within the field of pharmacy, a study conducted by Sweet and others found only 4% of respondents applied for a fellowship, and what’s more, only half of those were accepted into a fellowship program
Summary
Pharmacy fellowships are post-doctoral training programs intended to prepare pharmacy graduates for careers in research or the pharmaceutical industry. ASHP defines pharmacy fellowship as “a directed, highly individualized, postgraduate program designed to prepare the participant to become an independent researcher” with the ultimate goal of preparing the fellow for both independent and collaborative scientific research [2]. Despite these programs leading to non-traditional opportunities and career paths within the field of pharmacy, a study conducted by Sweet and others found only 4% of respondents applied for a fellowship, and what’s more, only half of those were accepted into a fellowship program.
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