I’m currently a sophomore in high school and really like chemistry. I also really like the concept of medicine and how it works, which is why I wanted to become a pharmacist. Except, there’s so many pharmacists and I feel like I can do much more than that. I’ve gotten into looking into becoming a pharmacologist, so I can actually be involved in developing the drugs and drug research. One of the things that comes up when i started getting in depth into looking into it is medicinal chemistry. I’m not sure that when I start applying for colleges if I should go for my B.S. in chemistry or in pharmaceutical science. What’s the difference if in the end I get my PhD in pharmacy or PhD in medicinal chemistry? Which is better (in terms of the job outlook and salary)?
Hi. Have my PhD in organic chemistry, and my career in medicinal chemistry. If you want to be ‘inventing’ drugs through chemistry - your ultimate destination could certainly be medicinal chemistry and you should get your BS in chemistry. The PhD is usually also in organic chemistry as you are building a toolset to be able to make molecules. The PhD in medicinal chemistry is less common, and i.m.o. less desirable for large pharma companies. Pharmacy is a discipline that understands the pharmacology of drugs and can connect patients to medicaitons. Traditionally - pharmacy is not in drug discovery in the traditional sense. In the end, figure out what problem you want to work on (drug discovery?) or what discipline you love (chemistry?) and there will be lots of options. It takes far more than just chemists to discovery drugs btw - and many career options that include pharmaceutical science. These scientists are more often in formulation and drug substance - important parts of the discovery process as well. Hope this helps.
Pharmacology, Medicinal Chemistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences are all fields within the drug production process, it’s just a matter of what part of the process.
Medicinal Chemistry deals with the synthesis of compounds that can be used to treat diseases
Pharmaceutical Sciences deals with the synthesis of tangeble medicines containing these compounds
Pharmacology deals with how tangeble medicines containing chemical compounds interact with the human body.
Like you, I also determined during my sophmore year of high school that I wanted to go into drug research and get a PhD in one of these subjects. However, in the event that pursuing a PhD didn’t pan out, I decided it would be best to have a contingency plan. Therefore, I applied and was admitted to 4 different 6 year PharmD programs, each with the option of a dual PharmD/PhD in any of the three fields mentioned above. By completing a PharmD, in which I’ll be required to take classes in each of the 3 fields, I’ll be able to determine which field I want to specialize in with a PhD, while also having the option to practice as a registered Pharmacist as a contingency plan.
If you, like me, know you want to complete a PhD and conduct pharmaceutical research, I would strongly recommend looking into 6 year PharmD programs. This way, if you are somehow unable to complete a PhD in the future, you’ll still have a contingency plan that pays a six figure salary. Otherwise, with a just BS in Chemistry or Pharmacetical Science, your average salary would only be somewhere around $70,000
Hope this helps, feel free to message me if you have any questions.
This is a pharmaceutical summer camp for rising seniors. Bookmark it and check back next spring to see if it will run again.
https://www.utoledo.edu/pharmacy/prospective/summercamp/index.html#about
edited to add: I suppose it could be worth a call or an email to ask if they ever accept rising juniors in the event the camp does not fill.