Jessie Fox, PharmD

Jessie Fox, PharmD graduated pharmacy school from Nova Southeastern University in Florida . Prior to pharmacy school, Jessie achieved an A.S. degree. In 2022. Jessie joined the Fellowship in Industry Program with the University of the Pacific partnered with Flow Therapy as a Medical Affairs fellow.

During her free time, Jessie loves trying new foods and restaurants. As a foodie, she also loves to cook new recipes and forming makeshift cookbooks for the ones that turn out "Yummy!". Jessie also enjoys being outdoors and around water. As a fellow, Jessie has grown to appreciate her (free) time and takes the opportunities to go for walks to stimulate creativity or to enjoy the outdoors.

We caught up with Jessie to provide insight on Medical Affairs as a fellow and to provide insight for prospective pharmacy students interested a fellowship in industry.

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

"My company specifically is small and med affairs wears more hats than at some of the larger companies. My main roles include outcomes research for idea generation, value proposition, and data collection/analysis. Preparing scientific posters with our abstracts to be presented at cardiology conferences. Preparing Manuscripts for publication. Developing educational deliverables both for internal use (e.g., how to conduct a proper med recommendations - presented to clinical staff members) and external use (e.g., marketing material to increase referrals). Responding to medical information inquiries - both internal and external. Forming strategic partnerships with community organizations and cardiology practitioners. Providing digital support (e.g., optimizing company-wide data visualization, ensuring proper documentation of outcomes data within the EHR (Electronic Health Records) and other platforms). Lastly, I have my hand in operations - helping to launch process/quality improvement initiatives, internal auditing workflows, patient follow up workflows, and any new endeavors within the company."

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

"Curiosity - Science is constantly evolving and as the bridge between company leadership, field teams, and internal operations. It is vital to act as a source for both established and emerging information. We must be curious to become an expert in our given field (e.g., cardiology at Flow Therapy) and to become innovators for the future of the field.

Independence - From my personal experience, you are expected to be a productive, independent thinker, learner, and creator. Rather than waiting to be asked or engaged, it behooves you to flush out your ideas.

Keeping in mind the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid) - and then go to your superiors for opinions and advice moving forward. "

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

"Conducting proper and thorough literature reviews are critical. This will help you generate brainstorms/outlines on topics of interest and reduce the risk of confirmation bias. Remember - Develop your research question (ideally, using the PICO method), identify key concepts and relevant MeSH terms to search, and combine these concepts using appropriate methods (e.g., boolean operators, quotations, asterisks). Also always make sure you're up-to-date with articles that the company leadership has deemed note-worthy. Additionally, basic statistical and excel function knowledge is helpful. This can help you stand out after starting at your company, but also within the interview process. "

What are some things pharmacy students can do now to prepare for an industry role?

"Join IPhO and stay ACTIVE. Your level of involvement and actions you took will hold more weight when applying for an industry role than grades. Do your best in classes, but don't trick yourself into believing that you "don't have time" to participate (and lead) extracurricular activities.

Ask your favorite professors what type of research they are participating in. It is highly likely they will be open to student participation even of a small caliber, which will be something you can speak about/put on your CV.

Start researching summer internships within the industry. Many will offer you a stipend to come spend a few weeks at their headquarters. If you end up loving that specific company culture, return the following summer to let them know you are loyal to and passionate about their company. Remember, a lot of life is about who you know, so also focus on making those personal connections."

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

"Include metrics on your CV, when possible. Showing the value you've added to a company, team, or project through numbers shows that:

1. You really have made an objective impact and

2. You understand how to convey that in a quickly digestible way.

Scour the IPhO website for interview tips and questions. Then practice with family friends or anyone who is willing so that you will feel more comfortable on interview day."

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)?

"If you have missed the window to apply for industry-based APPE's, focus on your transferrable skills. We don't need to know what you HAVEN'T done, we'd like to hear about things you HAVE done, contributed to, and made an impact within. Have you led any teams or helped bring a project to fruition? What were the measures that indicated success and what part did you play in achieving that? Additionally, even if you have no industry experience, it is your duty to become very knowledgable in the company and functional area you are applying to. Within this company, where do you see yourself in 5 years? What specific attributes do you contribute coming in and what specific skillsets do you look forward to gaining? The more SPECIFIC the more it will paint a picture for the interviewers and be memorable."