Summer Intern Perspectives: Nadia Aldahiri, AMCP Foundation/Pfizer Inc. Summer Intern
This past summer, I was honored to be an intern with the AMCP Foundation/Pfizer Inc. summer internship. Through this, I was also able to work with Independent Health (IH), a local Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) located in Buffalo, NY. This uniquely structured partnership enabled me to learn about managed care from 3 different perspectives: a major managed care organization, a leading pharmaceutical company, and a local HMO, allowing me to take a deep dive into a field of non-traditional pharmacy.
From the beginning, I was immediately integrated into multiple inter-professional teams at IH. These allowed me to explore a variety of pharmacist roles, including speaking with the pharmacy benefit dimension (PBM) team, MTM team, clinical team, and prior authorization (PA) team. Additionally, I discussed monthly regulation and compliance via roundtables, learned about weekly rebates, assessed clinical medication reviews, and completed a drug class review project.
One of the most memorable experiences I had with IH was the chance to present a New Drug Review (NDR) on Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) during their quarterly P & T committee meeting. I enjoyed the project, and the information I learned on developing a monograph from scratch has been invaluable in shaping my trajectory towards a future career in managed care.
In addition to my work with IH, I attended weekly educational sessions with Pfizer, emphasizing the significance of managed care from an industry perspective. The end of each session reinforced in my mind how vital a PharmD is to the industry. Understanding the “behind the scenes” perspective has taught me many concepts, including how a PA works, how PAs get resolved, how medications are added to the formulary, and why certain medications are excluded. Overall, the lessons learned helped solidify that pharmacists are committed to ensuring their patients get the best possible care, regardless of the setting.
Before I knew it, the internship had concluded, and I had the pleasure of presenting my capstone project to IH, AMCP foundation, and Pfizer. My project was titled “Assessing Barriers and Solutions to Identifying and Reporting Social Determinants of Health Z-Codes to a Health Maintenance Organization.” This project resonated with me, as I am interested in the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) role in health outcomes. I worked on this project with two mentors from IH and two from Pfizer, and presented my research at the AMCP Nexus 2022.
I would like to express my gratitude to AMCP Foundation, Pfizer Inc., and Independent Health for facilitating an exceptional program. Thank you to my preceptors/mentors, including Dr. Kevin Lynch (Pfizer), Dr. Nicole Abolins (Pfizer), Dr. Mark Wrobel (IH), Dr. Joshua Sawyer (IH), and Dr. Troy Koch (AMCP). A special thank you to Ebony Clay and Paula Eichenbrenner for crafting this experience so meaningfully. I truly appreciate everyone who welcomed me with open arms and trusted me to be a part of their team.
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