Graduates of the PEP Track use real world evidence, pharmacoepidemiology, and health economics to inform clinical practice and health policy. Most graduates accept their first position in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry or in contract research organizations that support that industry. The second most common destination is academia. Many other sectors find the skill students gain from the PEP Track valuable.
Employment Sectors
Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry, and Contract Research Organizations
Roles include health economics and outcomes research scientist, real world evidence scientist, pharmacoepidemiologist, value evidence lead, and safety or surveillance analyst. Work focuses on burden of illness, comparative effectiveness, cost effectiveness and budget impact, and payer facing evidence.
Academia and Research Institutions
Roles include assistant professor, research faculty, staff scientist, and research program manager. Work includes leading funded studies, mentoring trainees, publishing peer reviewed research, and collaborating with health system and policy partners.
Government and Public Agencies
Examples include FDA, CMS, CDC, VA, and state Medicaid programs. Roles include health scientist, pharmacoepidemiologist, economist, and policy analyst who evaluate safety, effectiveness, coverage, and program impact.
Health Systems and Payers
Integrated delivery networks, managed care organizations, and pharmacy benefit managers hire outcomes researchers, quality and value analysts, and formulary or coverage policy specialists who support population health and benefit design.
Consulting, HTA, and Analytics Vendors
Consulting firms, health technology assessment groups, and analytics vendors employ HEOR consultants, evidence reviewers, economic modelers, data scientists, and study directors who deliver decision support for clients across therapeutic areas. This group also includes digital health and startup environments where graduates lead product analytics and clinical evidence generation.
Mapping training to roles
M.S. (PEP Track)
Strong fit for analyst and associate scientist roles where you apply established methods on multidisciplinary teams. Common titles include HEOR analyst, RWE analyst, pharmacoepidemiology associate, policy analyst, and quality and patient safety analyst.
Ph.D. (PEP Track)
Strong fit for roles that lead research programs and publish original work. Common titles include assistant professor, principal investigator or staff scientist in government or health systems, senior HEOR or RWE scientist, and HTA or policy lead.
Skills employers seek
- Methods: causal inference, comparative effectiveness, survival and longitudinal modeling, economic evaluation and budget impact analysis
- Data: claims, EHR, registries, surveys, pragmatic trials, data management and curation
- Tools: R or Python, SQL, SAS or Stata, version control, reproducible workflows
- Communication: clear writing for technical and nontechnical audiences, data visualization, payer and policy briefs, presentations
Build your portfolio while in PEP
- Join an active research team and complete a methods driven analysis suitable for presentation or publication
- Complete a thesis or capstone that answers a practice or policy relevant question with real world data
- Document code and results in a reproducible format and prepare a one page decision brief that summarizes findings and limitations
- Present at seminar and at least one scientific meeting to expand your network
Next steps
See Admissions, MS Curriculum, PhD Curriculum, Course Descriptions, and Funding to align training with your target career path.