Jason Hong, PharmD

Jason Hong, PharmD graduated from the University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy in 2022. Prior to pharmacy school, Jason achieved a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In 2022, he joined the Fellowship in Industry Program at the University of the Pacific partnered with Genentech in the functional role of Clinical Science.

During his free time, Jason enjoys playing basketball, working out and learning new hobbies. When he gets the chance, he enjoys being adventurous trying out new things.

We caught up with Jason and asked him to provide some insight on her role as a Clinical Science fellow with Genentech. We also asked him to provide insight for prospective pharmacy students interested in pursuing the fellowship path to industry.

Can you briefly describe your functional area and what kind of roles/responsibilities are expected?

"Clinical science is responsible for designing and developing a protocol for a clinical trial, working in partnership with a medical director to ensure the safety of patients and the integrity of the data generated from the clinical trial."

What are some strengths that you feel are needed for your functional area?

"Being detailed oriented is important to ensure that information is accurate and precise. Additionally, being organized is important in this functional area as there are many moving parts in a study, and being organized is key to delivering good results."

What are some skillsets that are needed to work in your functional area?

"Some skillsets what I think are needed for Clinical Science are:

1.Having a base knowledge to understand the science, data analysis, knowledge and compliance of regulators

2. To know good clinical practice related to running and designing a clinical study

These are critical skills for those who want to work in Clinical Science functional area."

What are 3 things that PharmD students can do now (non-APPE students) to prepare for an industry role? Please provide a brief description if possible.

"Meet more people in industry, keep up to date with the trends/news of industry, be familiar with the role"

What interview preparation, skills, advice do you recommend for fellowship interview process?

"Start early, practice with many people who can assess and provide feedback, know yourself well"

What are your thoughts on the Univeristy of the Pacific? (Academic component of the fellowship, what do you do for UoP, thoughts on FIP events and professional development, etc...)

"UoP-FIP is unique because the program allows their fellows to have ownership of a project that aligns with their interests and goals. I am running a clinical study as a PI for my academic component of the fellowship. I've been able to work gain experience conceptualizing the study to executing it while managing a team of researchers who help run the study. FIP is small and events are more intimate. FIP offers professional development series on a monthly basis which offers speakers from companies and learning experiences that expand the fellowship such as learning finances."

For students that say, I don't have experience in industry, no internship, no APPE or etc., what advice can you recommend to current APPE students starting their rotations? And to non-APPE students (what can they do to make themselves competitive)?

"For APPE students, start seriously preparing for applications and create a list of things that you need to do to be ready. For non-APPE, if you're serious about industry, start preparing yourself to be a strong candidate by getting experience in the functional role. If not, think of ways that your non-relevant experiences prepares you for the role that you're applying for as convincingly as possible."