Q&A with Jeff Cai

Currently, Jeff Cai is a third-year pharmacy student at The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy completing the MPH dual degree program from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Upon entering his fourth- year, he will be joining Pfizer and Proctor & Gamble for APPE rotations in Oncology Medical Affairs and in Brand Marketing His other experiences include a Specialty Sales Internship at Eli Lilly and Company within their Diabetes Business Unit and a two-term presidency leading IPhO at UT Austin’s student chapter

Jeff Cai

How

Initially, my industry interests began within Medical Affairs since most PharmD graduates gravitate towards that area. However, I had a summer internship at Eli Lilly in their Diabetes Specialty Sales Unit, where I learned about the Sales team’s functions and the departments they work with, such as Marketing, Healthcare Provider Marketing, and Commercial Marketing. I learned about the impact PharmDs can have in Commercial, especially with understanding the customer base (i.e. MDs, PAs, NPs, and other HCPs). Our medical knowledge gives us a huge advantage since we’re able to see what HCPs want for their patients through a clinician’s perspective.

After the internship, I liked how applicable my experiences were within Commercial, especially in directly impacting strategies for company-tocustomer interactions. Within Commercial, I’d like to focus on the Brand Management/Marketing and Business Strategy/Development areas where I can have a bigger impact within the company. In terms of narrowing functional areas within industry, I’d say keep an open mind, understand each aspect of industry, and know the bigger picture.

What was the best experience you had working at Eli Lilly?

Along with meeting the Vice President of Sales at Eli Lilly and grabbing dinner with the team, I enjoyed visiting HCP offices and interacting with clients. In the big endocrinology office I interacted with, I made an impact in increasing Trulicity prescribing. Especially in Sales, it’s important to show your drug product’s benefit without being disrespectful to other competitors and your client’s prescribing practices, so it was nice to hear that these endocrinology HCPs valued our interactions during my handful of visits. I learned a lot during this internship, especially the fact that you can make an impact anywhere, even in a single visit.

What did you learn about the role?

Going into this internship, there was a lot to learn. From a therapeutic standpoint, PharmDs are the most prepared. However, there was more to learn from a sales standpoint. My internship was within Specialty Sales, so while I worked with other PharmDs across the nation, I still had to match up to regular sales interns who actually majored in Business and Sales. Learning about both sides was hard, but a PharmD with therapeutic and sales knowledge can make it far within Commercial.

What advice would you give to students applying to competitive APPE industry rotations?

Whether it’s with UT alumni or not, network as much as you can now and reach out to these professionals for a quick 30 -minute call to introduce yourself. Do some background research and ask good questions to firstyear fellows who can precept you for an APPE rotation. Understand the type of company these fellows are at and what schools they’re in conjunction with since that can determine their precepting availability. For example, Rutgers Fellows may have an academic requirement where they TA a course or precept an APPE student.

Also, it’s important to understand the calendar year because you don’t want to reach out to current fellows during fellowship season as they may be more busy with recruiting and interviewing applicants. As a P2, worry more about getting your CV ready and putting in the work to be noticeable. Do this, and come your P3 year, you’ll be set for competitive APPEs.

What is the most important characteristic one can have as a leader?

It depends since it’s hard to say there’s one specific trait. Leaders have a good work ethic and put themselves in uncomfortable situations to grow. A leader is someone who brings out the most in their team in a positive way, which begins with listening and understanding your team’s needs and job requirements.

Although leaders are the ones who guide others to success, it’s the team that actually makes the impact. Knowing your team’s strengths and weaknesses allows you to lead by example and understand the team dynamic.

Who made the most tremendous impact on you as a leader and why?

I’m thankful for having so many wonderful mentors and colleagues who have pushed me to be better so it’s hard to name just one person.

For mentors, I met Dr. Francisco through Eli Lilly. He helped me understand and prioritize the necessary information that kept me focused throughout my internship, so I’m grateful for his guidance. Also, Dr. Zhang is my UTeams faculty mentor and IPhO sponsor, and he’s played a big role in providing quality advice that allowed me to understand leadership and industry better. For colleagues, Jenny Hoang pushed me to do better and provided unbiased advice on what was best for me. I’m really appreciative of her for being someone I can rely on for anything and everything, especially with leading IPhO jeffcai0713@gmail.com

Surrounding myself with these people, each with different perspectives and experiences, pushed me to work harder and grow personally and professionally.

How do you stay motivated and positive in the face of rejection? How do you not get burned out with constant uncertainty?

Understand that with every interview rejection you face, the more you get to understand the process. With each rejection, try to learn something new, and know your value in order to push yourself closer to where you need to be. It’s easy to be complacent with rejection but try to sit down and understand what you did both wrong and right, so you can strive to be better next time. The idea of seeing all that hard work pay off can motivate you to work through the rejections to achieve a rewarding acceptance.

I work a lot and try to full-send everything I’m involved in, since it’s important to challenge yourself and do what others won’t, so you can go far in your career. However, burnout is real when you sacrifice a lot of sleep! It’s important to balance time for yourself–time for school, and time for your life. Prioritize your life while doing what you’re capable of at the moment.

I want to show future students that industry is an option for them, and I want to be a resource for them to succeed. Our school is full of great talent, so I’d like to grow our school’s industry presence to show that UT PharmD students are just as talented within industry as they are in a clinical setting. Especially with my internship at Eli Lilly, I want to continue that legacy of having recruiters pick UT PharmD students for direct industry experiences.

I hope to be known as someone who wants to help people succeed in their careers. Things can be competitive at times, but it’s important to help each other and get the most out of pharmacy school. Honestly, I feel a lot better when someone I helped succeeds more than when I succeed myself. It’s the best feeling to know that you made a direct impact to help someone grow.

Absolutely! Thank you for sharing your experiences and taking the time to have this interview with us. We appreciate everything you’ve done for IPhO and look forward to what you do next!