Career Center

Job Summary:

The Northeastern University Fellowship Program provides a dynamic academic environment offering fellows the opportunity for a wide breadth of experiences:

• Develop teaching skills through participation in our Teaching and Learning Seminar series
• Facilitate small and large group didactic education in partnership with a faculty mentor
• Utilize a layered learning model in experiential education by co-precepting students on pharmacy practice experiences including Northeastern’s unique co-op program
• Create, present, and publish scholarly research through collaborative industry and university relationships
• Engage with faculty who participate in various interdisciplinary graduate programs including biotechnology, nanomedicine, immunology, health informatics, and drug discovery
• Network with area residents and other Northeastern fellows via professional development programs, teaching seminars, and participation on fellowship committees

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated 

Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious and life-threatening diseases. In addition to clinical development programs in the respiratory, nephrology, pain, and cell and gene therapy disease space, Vertex has more than a dozen ongoing research programs focused on the underlying mechanisms of other rare diseases. Founded in 1989 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, our corporate headquarters is now located in Boston’s Innovation District, and our international headquarters is in London, United Kingdom. We currently employ approximately 4,300 people in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America with nearly two-thirds of our staff dedicated to research and development. At Vertex, we have some of the industry's best and brightest people helping us achieve our mission of discovering transformative medicines to help people with serious diseases. We depend on a talented global workforce to lead the charge as we work toward developing tomorrow's breakthrough medicines. The broad background possessed by a Pharm.D. graduate is highly valued in the Biopharmaceutical Industry, and certainly here at Vertex.

Clinical and Quantitative Pharmacology (CQP)

Northeastern University's School of Pharmacy and Vertex Pharmaceuticals will be partnering to offer a two-year Doctor of Pharmacy Clinical and Quantitative Pharmacology Fellowship Program at Vertex in Boston, MA starting July 2023. The CQP Department provides pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic expertise at all stages of drug development. The CQP Fellow will learn various aspects of a clinical pharmacologist’s and modeler's role, ranging from operational support to rigorous scientific analyses. The CQP Fellow will be able to tailor their experience to focus on Clinical Pharmacology, Modeling & Simulations or both. In addition, the fellow will have the opportunity to interact with other groups at Vertex, allowing for a broader understanding of drug development.

Responsibilities - Key Experiences During Program

• Training on standard software utilized in CQP (e.g., NONMEM, R, or WinNonlin)
• Analyzing and interpreting clinical trial results
• Participating in drug development strategy planning
• Contributing to clinical study protocols
• Providing clinical trial operations support
• Generating clinical pharmacology sections of clinical study reports
• Designing and leading clinical pharmacology studies (first in human, bioavailability, drug-drug interaction, immunogenicity, etc.)
• Performing Non-Linear Mixed Effect (NLME) modeling & simulation (e.g. population PK, PK-PD analyses) with standard software (e.g. NONMEM, R)
• Implementing Model Informed Drug Development (MIDD) using quantitative approaches to address critical questions arising during drug development
• Learning about other functions within Global Medicines Development & Affairs (GMDA) through rotational experiences upon request

Qualifications: