Many advanced practice providers (APPs) find themselves drawn toward careers outside the traditional clinical pathway but may not know how to pursue such a career path. A recent panel discussion, “Pioneering Career Paths and Expanding the Horizons for APPs,” held at the Horizon CME Advanced Practice Provider Oncology Summit in New York, NY, in August 2023, featured APPs who shared their experiences pursuing careers in health care IT, research, industry and education.
“If you’ve been doing clinical practice for a while, and you feel like you’re getting burned out, you feel like you need a break, you need something different, these are some of the other opportunities that can lead you to do that,” said panel discussion moderator Jeremy Heinerich, PA-C, clinical director of oncology PAs at Mount Sinai Hospital and a per diem physician associate (PA) at Weill Cornell Medicine, both in New York.
Health Care IT
Alexandra Andrei, PA-C, MBA, is a PA who transitioned into health care IT in 2012 after obtaining an MBA in health care administration and policy. “I wanted to try to make a greater impact on a larger number of patients and I felt that health care IT would be a great forum to do so,” she said.
Andrei began her career in healthcare IT as the oncology team lead for a large New York-based healthcare system where she implemented Epic’s oncology module, Beacon, for 2 of its 11 hospital systems. After consulting for City of Hope in Pasadena, CA, where she managed their research oncology protocol implementation, she returned to New York and became the product manager for Epic Ambulatory Oncology at Montefiore Health System. She was promoted to senior product manager and oversees ambulatory and oncology IT-related Epic projects, including the implementation of a tumor board application and pulmonary nodule clinic.
Andrei recommended that APPs who are interested in health care IT should reach out to their leadership team and ask if they are aware of any upcoming IT projects that they can be involved in and participate as a subject matter expert. “Most commonly we meet with clinicians to validate current state oncology protocols and ensure that they meet standard of care, of course, and the national guidelines. Clinicians provide invaluable input to the IT team to ensure that all the right orders are included in those protocols,” she said.
Industry
When Blueprint Medicines heard that Amber King, PharmD, BCOP, an adult leukemia clinical pharmacy specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, had led a grand rounds session in a rare systemic blood disease called systemic mastocytosis, they sought her out and asked if she would become an advisor. This led to an offer of a full-time role as a senior medical science liaison (MSL) and associate director of hematology/oncology-rare disease.
“It’s all about what you want and what the company can offer,” she said. What was most important to King was the company’s support for her continued focus on oncology, specifically leukemia. “I do a lot of patient advocacy and I’m also involved with clinical trials because we’re small and we’re able to be flexible. If it was big and I was pigeon-holed in a role, I don’t know if the transition would have been a little more rough,” she said.
King encouraged APPs who are interested in roles in the industry to talk to others who have found different niches. In addition to medical affairs, there are opportunities for APPs in sales, marketing, regulatory, advocacy, and clinical development. “I think you’ll find there’s a lot more flexibility than you can imagine,” she said.
From Industry to Academic Research
Donna Catamero, ANP-BC, OCN, CCRC, is associate director of myeloma research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Her current role followed a stint working as an MSL in the industry. She found that working in industry provided more flexibility and a better work/life balance, but she also realized she missed being on the frontline of patient care.
Catamero said she has no regrets. During her two years in the industry, she learned how to manage people, the ins and outs of the drug approval process, and how to launch a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. “I took those skills and moved forward with my career with them,” she said. “That whole experience gave me more insight so when I went back into the academic setting, I have a new vision of how trials should run, what we’re looking for when we’re documenting, how to prepare for an FDA audit. These are all skills.”
For APPs who are interested in research, Catamero recommends getting involved in a clinical trial. “If research is your passion, and there is a clinical trial, find out if you can get involved, get your feet wet. It can lead to other opportunities,” such as speaking engagements and participating in advisory committees.
Education
Nadya Dimitrov, PA-C, DPM, DFAAPA, is a clinical associate professor and assistant director of the Physician Associate Post-Professional Master’s Program at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY. She traced her career from a beginning where PAs were not known in most surgical settings to serving as chief surgical PA in an HMO setting to earning a clinical doctorate in podiatric medicine.
When she was invited to help direct the post-professional PA master’s program at Stony Brook, she said, “I thought this was a great way to enhance the careers of working PAs, so I went back to my alma mater and got very involved with a unique educational program.” In addition, she has developed the curriculum for a PA certificate course in palliative and serious illness patient management and is co-editing a seminal textbook, Palliative and Serious Illness Patient Management for Physician Assistants.
“At any point in one’s career as a PA, it is important to reflect and consider the possibility that you are the one doing this, and you need to share it with others—both in terms of involving them in your professional endeavors and in promoting the PA profession as a whole,” Dmitrov said. “No one else will do it for us. I’m still going strong in this chapter of my career, and I encourage all of you to do the same.”
