<p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>So i'm hoping to go into a career in pharmacy. My eventual goal is to either become a department head of a major pharmaceutical company (maybe if im really lucky, make partner at a large company, although im pretty sure that this isnt gonna happen) or start my own chain of pharmacies. I plan to get a pharmD so that if neither of these plans work out, i can alway work at cvs for a decent salary as a fallback.</p>
<p>My question is which degree other then a pharmD would help me in my goal to get up to department head or maybe even partner. Originally i was thinking of doing a dual degree program for a PharmD/MBA, but after reading around these forums for a while, i got the impression the i might be better off going for a MS in chemical engineering instead of the MBA.</p>
<p>Which one of those options, or if you guys have another one in mind, would help me the most in climbing up the corporate ladder to department head or partner, and would that option also be viable if i decide to open my own pharmacy?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I worked at a large Pharma, and our laboratory department director had a BS in Zoology.</p>
<p>You’ll have to specify for what specific business unit you want to work for.</p>
<p>Also, I find your aspirations to be quite schizophrenic. Partners and Directors are pretty well resolved from each other… at least five levels of management between the two in a mature corporate hierarchy.</p>
<p>yea i get that, what i mean is that i would love to reach partner, and that would really be my ultimate goal, but if i cant then i would settle for something like director.</p>
<p>I dont have any specific buisness unit in mind, just any really large unit in which a director can make around 150K and a partner can make alot more. (While my motivations for going into pharmacy are not money based, my reasons for wanted to move up to partner are entirely because of how well it usually pays).</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>‘Partner’ is something that happens in law firms. In pharmaceutical companies, particularly publicly traded ones, there is a group of executives that control the strategic directions of the organization. There is also a board of directors that are more removed from the day to day operations of the company and weigh in on major decisions.</p>