Intern Perspectives: Karen Mouawad, AMCP Foundation/AbbVie Internship

This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to intern at AbbVie in Chicago through the AMCP Foundation/AbbVie Specialized Internship. Going into the summer, I was excited to learn more about managed care and the pharmaceutical industry outside of my experience in pharmacy school. Looking back, this internship ended up being so much more than just a summer project. I gained real-world experience, learned from so many amazing people, and came away with a much better understanding of managed care and the different ways pharmacists can make an impact within the pharmaceutical industry.

At AbbVie, I worked within Value Writing in the Global Value Assessment (GVA) Center of Expertise. Being part of this team gave me the opportunity to see how clinical and economic evidence can be used to communicate the value of therapies to different healthcare decisionmakers. It was interesting to connect what I had learned in pharmacy school about medications and patient care with the bigger picture of access, evidence, value, and decision-making in managed care.

Throughout the summer, I also had several 1:1 meetings with professionals across AbbVie. This was honestly one of my favorite parts of the internship. Everyone was so willing to share their career journey, explain what they do, answer my questions, and share some advice. I was able to learn about different roles and career paths that I did not even know existed before this experience.

Another highlight was working on my own project and getting the opportunity to present my poster at AbbVie. After spending the summer working on it, it was such a rewarding feeling to finally share my work with the whole team. I am also very excited to continue sharing my work by presenting my poster at AMCP Nexus 2026!

The AMCP Foundation experience added another important part to my summer. Through educational sessions with Pfizer, I was able to learn more about managed care pharmacy, and how decisions made across healthcare can ultimately affect medication access and patient care. Learning alongside the other AMCP Foundation interns also made the experience even more special because we were all exploring different areas while still sharing the same interest in managed care.

I am thankful to my preceptor, Dr. Durisala Desaiah, for his mentorship, and support throughout the summer. I am also extremely thankful for my virtual mentors, everyone within the GVA team, my AbbVie colleagues, the AMCP Foundation team, Pfizer, and everyone who took time to meet with me, teach me, answer my questions, and contribute to my experience.

I came into this internship wanting to learn more about managed care and industry, and I left with so much more: new knowledge, new skills, amazing mentors and connections, and a much clearer idea of the opportunities available to pharmacists. I am beyond thankful to the AMCP Foundation and AbbVie for this experience, and I would absolutely encourage other student pharmacists to apply. It is an experience I will always be grateful for and one that I know will continue to shape my career.

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