UW-AbbVie Fellowship
HEOR FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2024-2026
Contents
HEOR FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2024-2026
About AbbVie
At AbbVie, we strive to make a remarkable impact on the lives of patients. Our focus is clear – we are here to serve patients and we are committed to doing right by them.
We are a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and delivering innovative new medicines with distinct and compelling benefits for people.
We are a passionate, diverse and inclusive organization with a culture that supports the best ideas, wherever they originate. AbbVie therapeutic areas include the following: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology, women’s health, other specialty. Treating ~60 conditions, across 30+ brands in more than 175+ countries.
We bring people together because we know that collaboration is the key to breaking barriers and exploring new frontiers in science. We take smart risks that lead to transformative breakthroughs and can change lives for people all over the globe.
Our commitment to making a remarkable impact doesn’t end at developing medicines; it begins there. We provide broad support to our patients and help address the health needs of underserved communities. We strive to protect our environment and to make a positive impact in the areas where we live and work.
About the University of Washington
The University of Washington is a world-class leader in health sciences education and has been consistently listed in US News and World Report as one of the top 10 institutions for its graduate programs. The University is particularly noted for its strong research programs and since 1974 has received more federal funds for research and training than any other public university in the United States. It fosters a highly collegial atmosphere between departments and academic units, creating a particularly attractive environment for such partnerships between the public and private sectors.
The Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics (CHOICE) Institute is housed within the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, which boasts nearly 125 years of academic and research success. Faculty in the program (1) provide advanced research training for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and clinicians (PharmDs, MDs), (2) conduct rigorous scientific research in economic evaluations and outcomes of pharmaceuticals and other health technologies, and (3) translate and disseminate the results of research into clinical practice and healthcare policy, with the goal of improving patient care.
The CHOICE Institute faculty participating in the fellowship have been chosen both for their dedication to teaching and their excellence in research. Each is trained either as a health economist or health services researcher and all have an extensive history of effective economic evaluations and pharmacoepidemiologic research.
Kyu Lee, PhD
Endowed Assistant Professor of Health Decision Sciences
University of Washington
kyueunl@uw.edu
Jing Li, PhD
Assistant Professor of Health Economics
University of Washington
jli0321@uw.edu
Jae Lee, PharmD, MS
Associate Director, HEOR
AbbVie
jaehyun.lee@abbvie.com
First-Year Fellows
Filmon Haile, PharmD
Filmon recently graduated from University of Southern California with his PharmD. He has industry experience in medical and regulatory affairs. Though he found his passion for HEOR through elective courses at his university and side projects that he took on throughout his rotations. Filmon is stimulated by thought-provoking conversation, and he is passionate about filling in unmet gaps in our health care system. He is really looking forward to gaining technical experience and working closely with the renowned faculty at CHOICE Institute and industry experts at AbbVie.
Richard Ta, PharmD
Richard earned his PharmD from the University of Southern California (USC) Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy. His interest in HEOR developed through opportunities such as the AMCP P&T competition and an internship at Janssen Pharmaceuticals. From these experiences, he learned the importance of HEOR’s role inthe value story of a product to maximize patient access. His current research interests are economic modeling, real-world evidence generation, and patient-reported outcomes. Richard is excited to embark on a new chapter in his career, working with CHOICE and AbbVie to expand his HEOR skillsets and improve patient access to treatment.
Second-Year Fellows
Zach Baldwin, PharmD, MS
Zach is a second-year UW/AbbVie HEOR Postdoctoral Fellow. He earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, where he had an introduction to HEOR during his first AMCP P&T competition. It was after that competition that he knew he wanted to gain additional knowledge within the field, and so he sought out additional courses, faculty mentors, and internships to deepen his understanding of the methods. The partnership with AbbVie and the UW afforded him the mentorship from Drs. Beth Devine, Maria Agapova, and Connie Yan during his first year.
Zach completed his Masters degree after completing his thesis on time-related trends for medication treatment patterns after initiation of device-aided therapy in Parkinson’s Disease. Now in his second year, Zach will work closely with Connie Yan in the Parkinson’s Disease space supporting key HEOR strategic imperatives. Zach is excited to apply his formal education in a real-world setting and further refine his understanding of health economics and outcomes research.
Abstracts:
- Baldwin Z, Yan C, Devine B. Healthcare Resource Use and Economic Burden of Device-Assisted Therapies in Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review. UW Corporate Advisory Board, September 2022, Seattle, WA.
- Baldwin Z, Devine B. Incidence of Malignancies in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD): A Systematic Review. ISPOR, May 2023, Boston, MA.
Manuscript:
- Baldwin Z, Yan C, Agapova M, Devine B. Impact of Carbidopa-Levodopa Enteral Suspension Initiation on Oral Medication Treatment Patterns in Persons with Parkinson’s Disease: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis. (In progress)
Jae Kim, PharmD, MS
Jae is a second-year UW/AbbVie HEOR Postdoctoral Fellow. He earned his PharmD from the University of Michigan. During pharmacy school, Jae was able to work in multiple functional areas and with formulary decision-makers. He developed an interest in HEOR through these experiences as he realized the utility of real-world evidence and the importance of developing strong value propositions for treatment options. During his first year of the fellowship, Jae worked under the mentorship of Drs. Beth Devine, Tae Jin Park, and Maria Agapova to assess the health care resource utilization and costs associated with a misdiagnosis of migraine for his thesis project.
In his second year, Jae is continuing his work with AbbVie’s migraine team with Tae Jin Park. Jae is excited to apply his learnings from the first year of the fellowship to coming projects within AbbVie and to continue his training in HEOR.
Abstracts:
- Kim, J, Park TJ, Devine B. Characteristics of Diagnostic Setting in Migraine Diagnosis: A Systematic Review. UW Corporate Advisory Board, September 2022, Seattle, WA.
- Kim J, Park TJ, Devine B. Cost Effectiveness of Dual vs. Triple Therapy in Management of Atrial Fibrillation with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. ISPOR, May 2023, Boston, MA.
Manuscript:
- Kim J, Park TJ, Devine B, Agapova M, Blumenfeld A, Smith J, Shah D. Healthcare Resource Utilization and Costs Associated with the Misdiagnosis of Migraine. (In Progress).
Past Fellows
The University of Washington/AbbVie HEOR Fellowship is a two-year program that provides training and hands-on experience in a broad-range of health economics and outcomes research topics. The program is structured to allow fellows to gain proficiency in health outcomes strategy and research as conducted in both academic and pharmaceutical industry settings.
The Fellowship Program
The University of Washington and AbbVie are pleased to offer two, 2-year HEOR Fellowship positions for the academic year 2024-2026. Fellows will spend their first year at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA), and the second year at AbbVie (Irvine, CA; Madison, NJ; or North Chicago, IL). The objective of the first year is to educate fellows on the principles and methods used in health economics and outcomes research. During the second year, fellows are provided with opportunities to gain practical knowledge and experience with the use of clinical, economic, and humanistic data by supporting the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. This will be accomplished by participating in work activities undertaken by the HEOR team.
Compensation includes a competitive stipend, basic medical insurance, conference attendance, relocation from Seattle to Irvine, and holiday/vacation time. A Master’s (MS) Degree is awarded upon completion of all course requirements and thesis project.
Fellowship Structure
After completion of the first year, the fellow will have a clear understanding of:
- General principles of economics and in particular how economics influences
the use, cost, and availability of pharmaceuticals.
- The complex structure of drug policy and how it determines relationships between consumers, health care providers, insurers, payers, and government agencies.
- The breadth and scope of analytical methods needed for the assessment
of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs), economic modeling, retrospective database studies, and observational studies.
- Formulary development, maintenance and evaluation in institutional, managed care, and state-level government programs.
First Year Objectives
The objective of the first year is to provide the fellow with the research tools necessary for economic evaluation and policy assessment. The fellow will be given an overview of pharmaceutical economics and general health policy, and taught methods of economic assessment, health services research, epidemiology, clinical research design, and biostatistical analyses.
The fellow will be assigned a MS thesis project which is selected based on input from both AbbVie as well as the University of Washington mentors. Fellows are highly encouraged to complete their MS project during their first year. Additionally, fellows will also engage in ongoing projects with AbbVie throughout their first year, applying skills from previous pharmacy training as well as integrating new techniques developed from University of Washington courses. Applying learning to solve real-world problems is a constant focus of the fellowship.
The fellow’s actual course of study will be developed on an individual basis with Drs. Jing Li & Kyu Lee, but will consist of courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, economic evaluations and outcomes research, and health and pharmaceutical policy.
Second Year Objectives
The second year of training will be at AbbVie with the HEOR department.
This part of the program is designed to allow the fellow to learn about the role of economic evaluations and outcomes research in the drug development and commercialization process within the industry setting. The research may be on an existing or experimental product for a disease state that is of interest to AbbVie.
In addition to completing individual research project(s), fellows will participate in ongoing economic evaluations, outcomes research, and other projects in collaboration with the HEOR team. These experiences will provide the fellow with opportunities to interact
with team members in other departments at AbbVie to learn how economic analyses and outcomes research are used throughout the pharmaceutical industry. Fellows will see firsthand how outcomes research is utilized to demonstrate the place of AbbVie products in treatment pathways and its value.
Application Requirements
- You must hold U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status to apply, we are unable to sponsor non-immigrant visas for this program.
- Degree in pharmacy or health-related discipline.
- Previous research experience (preference will be given to those with a high academic standing).
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, ethics, professionalism, leadership and an interest in the biopharmaceutical industry.
- Curriculum vitae, cover letter, three letters of recommendation.
Selection of fellows will be made by a committee composed of University of Washington faculty members and representatives from the respective company.
Application Process Timeline:
- Eligibility: Degree in Pharmacy by July 1, 2024
- Application Opens: Friday, September 1, 2023
- Application Deadline: Monday, October 23, 2023
- Interview Notification: Monday, October 30, 2023
- Interviews: Week of November 6, 2023 (via Zoom)
- Offer Notification: Rolling, after interviews
- Decision Deadline: December 13, 2023
- Program Start Date: July 1, 2024
How to Apply
- Login to the Graduate School application: https://apply.grad.uw.edu/portal/gr_app
- Select “Start Graduate Application”
- Complete all sections of the application along the lefthand panel, starting with the Profile Information section.
- Under Program Selection, choose the following:
- Application type: Graduate
- Program: Pharmacy – Health Economics & Outcomes Research (MS)
- Review the Program Requirements and indicate the term and year you intend to enroll in the program
- Select Autumn 2024 (this is when the matriculation to the graduate program would begin).
- For the section, “Application Questions”, select which MS fellowship program(s) to which you would like to apply. You may choose a min. of 1 and a max. of 4. The selections are not ranked.
- Select all that apply: AbbVie Fellowship Program, Bayer Fellowship Program, Genentech Fellowship Program, Seagen Fellowship Program
- To add another program, select “Add a fellowship program”. You may choose up to 4.
- Continue with completing all other sections of the application, including Application Materials and Recommenders.
- Review your application and check for any missing required fields or errors. When ready, click Submit Application. Your application is not submitted until you have paid the application fee.
- Fee waivers are available for those who qualify. Review eligibility requirements and the process for fee waiver requests here: https://grad.uw.edu/prospective-students/how-to-apply/application-fee-waivers/
A more detailed instruction guide can be found here.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact:
University of Washington
Marina Gano, M.Ed.
Graduate Program & Operations Manager
The CHOICE Institute, Department of Pharmacy
206-616-1383
uwsopchoice@uw.edu
AbbVie
Jae Lee, PharmD, MS
Associate Director, HEOR
2525 Dupont Drive
Irvine, CA 92612
(818) 726-7890
jaehyun.lee@abbvie.com