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UCB, in collaboration with the Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO), offers two-year fellowship programs for PharmD graduates with the opportunity to learn and gain experience within the biopharmaceutical industry under the mentorship of experienced preceptors:
Global Patient Safety
Global Regulatory Affairs
Medical Affairs - Immunology
Global Clinical Sciences & Operations
Global Medical Affairs - Rare Diseases
The fellowships at UCB offers a unique opportunity to work in an environment that is patient-focused, creative, flexible, and agile, with an exciting and promising pipeline.
The Patient Safety Fellowship at UCB provides Fellows with a broad and comprehensive experience into all aspects of Pharmacovigilance. Fellows have a unique opportunity to participate in and lead global initiatives that focus on ensuring the safety of patients and leveraging safety data to enable informed decision making that builds a robust foundation for an impactful career in Pharmacovigilance.
The fellowship is purposefully designed with rotations that enable the Fellows to have end-to-end experience across the various aspects or Pharmacovigilance. The Fellow will begin by establishing a fundamental understanding of how safety data is captured and processed and then be immersed in sub-functions of Patient Safety to gain working knowledge of how the safety data are assessed and utilized to support decision making around the benefit / risk balance of compounds. This includes working with a global Safety Lead to apply Pharmacovigilance principles to one or more compounds. Additionally, the Fellow will gain working experience on Medical Device Safety and Surveillance. The fellowship also includes built-in time for 2 elective rotations for the Fellows to gain broader exposure and further explore opportunities of their choice, including areas outside of Patient Safety.
The Global Regulatory Affairs Fellowship provides Fellows with the depth and breadth of experience with all aspects of Regulatory Affairs to successfully position them for a career as a uniquely well-rounded Regulatory professional. During the rotations within the sub-functions of Regulatory Affairs, the Fellows are assigned to work with the Regulatory Science Lead for one or more compounds, including pipeline and marketed products, ensuring that the chosen projects offer the greatest learning opportunity and exposure to FDA and other global regulatory health authorities. Additionally, the longitudinal exposure to Regulatory Operations throughout the two-year fellowship provides the Fellows with a holistic view of submission and project management. Lastly, the Fellows have an opportunity for a three-month elective in a functional area of their choice, outside of Regulatory Affairs, to allow them to gain additional insights from the outside in.
The Medical Affairs Fellowship focuses on opportunities to learn, experience and lead various activities involved within the dynamic functions within a Medical Affairs organization. Fellows will utilize their first year to learn how medical affairs strategies are implemented and executed within the umbrella of the overall product life cycle, interacting with various departments such as Marketing, Regulatory Affairs, Health Economics Outcomes Research (HEOR)/Real World Evidence (RWE), and Clinical Development. The uniqueness of the UCB Medical Affairs Fellowship is that it allows for optional rotations in the second year to various roles within Medical Affairs such as Medical Information, Medical Communications and Field Medical Operations & Strategy. This flexibility in the second year of the program allows for Fellows to gain broad experiences that will develop them into a well-rounded Medical Affairs professional.
Global Clinical Sciences & Operations (GCSO) at UCB aspires to deliver UCB’s pipeline projects with top in the industry cycle times, strong patient focus, and innovative technologies. From efficient planning, to delivery of clinical trials of assigned products, to successful regulatory submissions for approval, GCSO is focused on the successful delivery of patient-preferred studies, thereby bringing value to our study participants and the global community.
The GCSO Fellowship will provide the Fellow with the unique opportunity to acquire in-depth end-to-end knowledge of the fundamentals of clinical trial operations. The 2-year Fellowship is designed to provide the Fellow with a variety of engaging rotational experiences to grow their knowledge and understanding of the many cross-functional teams required to execute highly rigorous clinical studies with high quality, within ambitious timelines, and ultimately providing value to our patients.
The Global Medical Affairs Fellowship in the Rare Disease Organization (RDO) - a new addition to the UCB Fellowship Program - focuses on opportunities to learn, experience, and lead various activities involved in the dynamic functions of a global medical affairs organization. Fellows will utilize their time to learn how medical affairs strategies are developed, implemented, and executed across the different indications that make up the global medical rare disease team. Fellows will learn to work collaboratively and cross-functionally across regions while considering global needs.
The uniqueness of the UCB Global Medical Affairs Fellowship is that it allows the fellow the opportunity to learn and work in a truly global environment. Working in global medical affairs is uniquely rewarding, involving international collaboration to address medical challenges, bridge research, and real-world practices, and ensure global access to cutting-edge treatments. The fellow can expect to engage with diverse stakeholders, gaining insights into various healthcare systems and regulatory landscapes, requiring adaptability and deep medical expertise. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity to make a positive impact on global healthcare. Additionally, the option to select an elective within or outside of medical affairs will allow the fellow to learn about another area of interest.
If you are interested in learning more about the UCB Fellowship Program, we will be conducting informational webinars on September 21 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST and October 1 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. EST which students can sign up for here:
“The Global Patient Safety Fellowship program here at UCB will provide me with the skillset and fundamentals to be a well-versed pharmacovigilance scientist as I rotate through different areas of pharmacovigilance. This program is incredibly unique giving fellows' exposure to medical device safety and surveillance along with international pharmacovigilance. UCB is the epitome of a patient-centric company; they are committed to the well-being of patients which creates a dynamic atmosphere to learn and grow. Fellows have the opportunity to take on and lead projects and also gain mentorship from experienced professionals. In addition, the IPhO component allows for fellows to gain professional development opportunities.” - Collins Kofi Asamoah
“The unique structure of the UCB Global Patient Safety Fellowship program builds deep knowledge, develops strong skills, and provides global and local exposure to patient safety and medical devices pharmacovigilance. The opportunities here are diverse and endless, with a strong support system to help navigate them. I am very pleased with my experience, and I strongly believe UCB is molding me to be the best in the field.” - Osamagbe (Osa) Woghiren
“As evident by the inclusive experience and the various rotations, UCB’s Global Regulatory Affairs Fellowship is highly distinctive for post-doctoral training in this field. The program offers ample opportunity for leadership in meaningful projects, mentorship, and training with unique aspects of regulatory affairs such as devices and products for rare diseases. The diverse, welcoming, and truly patient-centered environment at UCB makes it an excellent place to learn and train to be an adaptable, impactful industry pharmacist.” - Megan Griffin
“UCB’s Global Regulatory Affairs post-doctoral fellowship has equipped me with the robust competencies needed to excel in the pharmaceutical industry’s complex regulatory landscape. As I step into my second year, I am proud of my extensive involvement in a multitude of projects that have allowed me to delve deeply into various regulatory areas, especially regulatory strategy and advertising & promotion/labeling. Moreover, our partnership with IPhO has become an ongoing resource for honing my leadership abilities and broadening my professional connections.” - Kevin Darko
“UCB and the Medical Affairs Fellowship stood out to me for its focus on developing the fellow in the strategy and execution of tactics of the medical team at a company that has a strong, patient-centered focus and a commitment to solving problems for patients with unmet needs. The rotational aspect of this fellowship allows the fellow a breadth of experiences, while being a mid-size pharma company allows fellows with the depth of experience I desired for my career development. Throughout the fellowship I feel that I have been supported and encouraged in every aspect to ensure that upon completion, I can be a complete, competitive, and successful Medical Affairs professional” - Aakash Patel
“One of the most unique aspects of the UCB Medical Affairs Fellowship is its strong strategic focus. The wide range of experiences offered through the Fellowship will not only build an impressive technical skillset, but also an invaluable strategic acumen and network that will help the Fellow succeed in whichever therapeutic area they may choose to pursue post-Fellowship. Working at a truly science driven, patient centered company also allows the Fellow to see their meaningful contributions on the team, in turn, impact the landscape of disease states in need of better treatments.” -Kelly Cheung
“UCB exemplifies the perfect blend of visionary innovation and unwavering commitment to patient-centricity. The Global Clinical Sciences and Operations (GCSO) fellowship at UCB is unique as it provides a nurturing environment that fosters hands-on learning, collaboration and empowers fellows to become well rounded scientists. In addition to acquiring invaluable skills, fellows are provided the opportunities to be at the forefront of the end-to-end processes involved in designing, executing, closing out and reporting of groundbreaking clinical studies.” - Walter Ebile A.
This fellowship position may only be applied for through the IPhO FellowMatch service:
https://www.industrypharmacist.org/fm_landing.php
A letter of intent and CV should be submitted through the FellowMatch portal.
Two letters of recommendation should be emailed to ucbpharmdfellowshipprogram@ucb.com. In the subject line of the email, please enter the functional area acronym, followed by candidate’s name.
The application deadline is October 27, 2023.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and applicants are encouraged to submit their materials on FellowMatch accordingly.