Alvin Ong, PharmD, Director, Medical Outcomes Liaison at Leo Pharma and MFN alumni joined us for our Career Pathways event on January 30th. Hosted by Dimple Gandhi (2nd year MCPHS/Takeda fellow), Alvin started by sharing his background, followed by a Q&A session with current fellows across all functional areas.
Some of the topics that were discussed included:
- How to land your first role after fellowship
- How to figure out what functional area is best for you
- Tips for salary negotiation
- How to maximize talking about your fellowship experiences, peripheral experiences, and transferable skills
- Advice for fellows
- Tips for navigating corporate environment-related challenges
- How to complete personal evaluations as a full-time employee
- Favorite aspects and least favorite aspects of current role
- How to determine if small biotech or big pharma is for you
We were so lucky to be joined by Alvin and can’t wait for the next Career Pathways event! Some of his best advice during the session included:
- “When completing your personal evaluations as an employee, have quarterly reminders on your calendars about the projects you are working on. Don’t be afraid to brag, you have to fight for yourself and provide good data for your manager to fight for you.”
- “Separate the personal from the business,” corporate decisions are not personal
- “If you are looking to make a career pivot into a field-based role, highlight your home office experiences”
- A piece of advice that has stuck with Alvin: “Be careful of what you say yes to”
MCPHS Biopharmaceutical Fellows' Network 