Consultantships

[snorebel]

I know that some residents (especially in fields that wall street perceives as hot- Nsurg, plastics, orthosurg, cardio) are part time consultants for various biotechs/healthcare consultant groups. I was wondering if anyone knows how this occurs most frequently...does the biotech find you, do you pitch yourself to the company, do you have to know someone at the company, etc. I'm sure that all of the above have occured in different instances, however any advice/information, or a personal experience would be great. Thanks.

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[DrKnowItAll]

The biotech/pharma industry would have no use for residents. Most consultants for the industry are seasoned academicians with many years of experience under their belt. Some are in fact Nobel Laureates. It is not as easy as people think for a physician to break into the pharma industry.

 

[Polska]

The biotech/pharma industry would have no use for residents. Most consultants for the industry are seasoned academicians with many years of experience under their belt. Some are in fact Nobel Laureates. It is not as easy as people think for a physician to break into the pharma industry.

Having formerly worked at two pharma companies (Merck and GlaxoSmithKleine) and did an internship with Sirna Therapuetics (Bought out by Merck for several billion), Dr. KnowItAll is correct. Basically it goes like this, Merck decides it wants advice on RNAi silencing technology. They basically survey and find out who are the best, ie. Nobel Laureates, Top Academic Researchers, etc. Stalk them to figure out if they are a good match, and then offer the job to them. In the recent case, they got a consultant, had some more top academics review their ideas for a change in their pipeline, and they bought a stake in the consultants business Sirna (Stock ticker:RNAI).

With billions at stake, they're not looking for some smuck who "Passed" medical school. If you aren't "known" in your industry, you don't exist to them.


As for Wall Street, what your refering to a consultants for mutual fund or hedge funds. In this case, what good are you if you don't know the industry inside and out. Just look at the different funds websites and notice how many MDs are either running the fund or helping with consulting. On T.Rowe Price, I found zero funds (consultants not listed). Fidelity has an MD fund manager. However, as with anything, when there are only 0-10 spots available nationwide, you have to either BE someone or be related to someone.



Gail Bronwyn Lese MD '93, Manager of Fidelity Select Food and Agriculture Portfolio

BA, Lehigh University, 1989
MD, Cornell University Medical College, 1993
MBA, Harvard Business School, 1998

Dr. Gail Lese began her career as pediatric physician. Committed to serving the comprehensive economic, social, and health care needs of children and families, Dr. Gail Lese earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, served as a financial analyst and fund manager at Fidelity Investments, and has been a volunteer and founder of multiple community service endeavors.

Oh yea, did I mention she got her job since she's of her connections as a State Senator?

http://www.leseforsenate.com/news.html

 

[snorebel]

I agree with the above posters in regards to consultantships for such pharm giants as merck...or with big hedge funds, etc. What I was trying to refer to in my original post was small biotech start ups...more along the lines of a company that produces surgical tools, etc. The reason why I am asking is I've seen consultantships listed in residents' CV: a gen surg guy from hopkins, a nsurg guy from duke...all residents. The companies they are tied to are probably small, as I've never heard of them before. Nevertheless, its still probably nice to have that extra bit of income during ones residency years. Moreover, please see LADoc00's post from another thread started: "Starting a business during residency"

"I knew of people in my day who made well into the six figures during residency. One guy in my program pulled down between 40-60K a year in additional funds through consulting with private corps. Other people I knew back from my med school days put together a group that did coverage for nursing homes, another group of residents did coverage at far flung rural hospitals during "research" rotations. All made significant enough $$ to be driving around a nice new Lexus and owning a modern home during training, not bad."

That's what I'm talking about. Any takers?

 

[LADoc00]

Let me throw out my own 2 cents on this thread if only because I was just offered a slot on the tech advisory board for one of the world's largest biopharm corporations, and at nearly 2K/day, the salary isnt bad (planning to do this on Sat/Sun in addition to my normal biz)...

Ive published but not much. I have 3 board certs with good credentials, but am nowhere near famous. I AM a good smoozer tho. I talk people up, show up to hospital conferences with flashy power point presentations and read the current literature. So when they are looking for people, my name does on rare occasion get tossed around. Im not sitting in the boardroom at Merck but I am working my way up through the system, albiet slowing.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Business = Schmoozing

 

[thevidrohi]

Let me throw out my own 2 cents on this thread if only because I was just offered a slot on the tech advisory board for one of the world's largest biopharm corporations, and at nearly 2K/day, the salary isnt bad (planning to do this on Sat/Sun in addition to my normal biz)...

Ive published but not much. I have 3 board certs with good credentials, but am nowhere near famous. I AM a good smoozer tho. I talk people up, show up to hospital conferences with flashy power point presentations and read the current literature. So when they are looking for people, my name does on rare occasion get tossed around. Im not sitting in the boardroom at Merck but I am working my way up through the system, albiet slowing.

Don't mean to bump an old thread, but I'm curious about this, and I never saw it followed-up. How common is this? Has anyone had a similar experience?