KINGSTON, R.I. – March 17, 2025 – The outdated image of a pharmacist anonymously counting pills into a bottle and slapping on a label for a clerk to hand to a customer no longer applies. The pharmacy profession has drastically evolved over the years, and there are myriad career options available to today’s pharmacy student, as highlighted by a recent industry networking event in the Memorial Union organized by two University of Rhode Island students.
College of Pharmacy students Revaa Goyal and Willy Njeru hosted a career networking event recently, featuring 16 professionals from across the spectrum of pharmaceutical careers. The event gave P2 pharmacy students (those in their second professional year) the chance to learn about the various opportunities in the industry while potentially making lasting connections with future colleagues, which can help lead to opportunities down the road.
“My sophomore year, I was looking for opportunities for an internship for the summer, and I found the entire process to be incredibly difficult; there are so many opportunities, it can be hard to find the right one,” said Njeru, who is president of the Industry Pharmacists Association’s URI chapter. “I ended up joining a virtual career fair held by a pharmaceutical company, where I was able to connect with my future manager. After that, I thought it would be really good to have some sort of platform here in the College of Pharmacy, not only to be able to find internships and jobs, but also to be able to connect with other professionals and build that sense of community.”
Industry professionals included some usual suspects such as CVS, Walgreens and Albertson’s, along with those representing other career paths, including Regeneron, a biotechnology research firm, Becton Dickinson, a medical technology company, and L’Oreal skin care and cosmetics company, among others. Representatives joined colleagues from industry and academia, including professor and former URI Dean Paul Larrat, in leading round-table discussions with dozens of P2 students.
“It was like speed dating, networking style,” said Goyal, who serves as student representative on the URI Board of Trustees. “We wanted it to be more casual so students were able to ask the kinds of questions they really want to ask. I know a lot of students were asking how they can get into the field the presenter is in, what they did, what advice they would have for their past selves. Some industry topics that were really interesting was stuff they see in medicine and industry that we haven’t been exposed to at this point.”
Topics beyond what one might expect at a pharmaceutical conference included eye surgery, hematology, and how to leverage a pharmacy degree in different spaces – whether it’s clinical pharmacy, industry pharmacy, or other fields. Keynote speaker Elaine Nadeau, national director of field medical affairs for biopharmaceutical firm Lundbeck, led a discussion on such skills as communication, building one’s personal brand, and how to leverage network connections to boost one’s career going forward. Giving students such a look into the future was a key purpose of the event.
“A lot of conversations were centered on the presenter’s journey from pharmacy school up to where they are now in their career,” Njeru said. “That was super important because as students, we’re really locked in and focused on what we have to study for in the next exam, so we don’t always think about how our experience here really does play a role in the wider journey we have as a future professional. They provided a new perspective some students might not be aware of.”
This first networking event was limited to P2 students, but Njeru and Goyal, themselves second-year doctor of pharmacy students, hope to expand it in coming years to include all pharmacy students, as well as more industry professionals to give an even more extensive look at the opportunities available.
“There are a lot of pharmacy jobs; even within a hospital, there are so many different things you can do,” Goyal said. “They always tell us that, but it’s kind of hard to see it when you don’t have firsthand experience with it. That’s what we want to do—bring a few more careers down so students can see there’s more to the profession. Building a network with people who are actually in the industry now, and having someone as a resource you can reach out to is really important.”