Phamacoeconomics

Summer Internship in Pharmacoeconomics

The Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy offers a summer internship in Pharmacoeconomics for current students in the Health Sciences.

The internship is designed to offer students an experience in pharmacoeconomics research. Pharmacoecononics is defined as the scientific discipline that assesses the overall value of pharmaceutical health care products, services, and programs. Its major focus is on cost-minimization, cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility studies. While data for such evaluation is prospectively collected in some studies, the use of readily available clinical and administrative data in retrospective studies is increasing. The Department uses a variety of large datasets covering several millions of patients, including data from Florida Medicaid, the Veteran’s Administration Health System, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and clinical data from Shands Healthcare. Examples of ongoing research studies include use of nesiritide in cardiovascular surgery, rimonabant in obesity, and deferasirox in sickle cell disease patients.

The demand for researchers in pharmacoeconomics with clinical backgrounds has increased significantly over the past decade. This development is expected to continue with the increasing need to find efficient treatments to optimally invest scarce resources. Clinicians with advanced degrees in pharmacoeconomics pursue careers in academia, the pharmaceutical industry. and government. The Department hopes that this internship will provide students with insight in an exciting field they may not have considered as a career option.

Successful applicants will work closely with Department faculty, fellows, and graduate students on current research projects or the development of new research proposals. While the extent of involvement in research is limited due to the short time period, the Department will engage students in a small project that can be completed during the internship and presented at a professional meeting. Activities assigned to interns might include:

• Conducting background searches on specific topics relevant to ongoing studies,
• Participation in data collection and analysis, and/or
• Participation in preparation of manuscript, meeting abstracts and presentations.

The internship will provide a stipend of $4,327.00 (Summer 2013) for a total of 10 weeks, dates are negotiable. Students are expected to work full-time and participate in all Department activities. Students will also be required to present their work at a Department seminar and the College of Pharmacy Research Day.