Brandon Dang, PharmD ’20, stepped out of the box of retail pharmacy to find a career that combines his interests in patient care and the commercial sector. Now, as the Manager of Market Research and Integrated Analytics on the Immunology Portfolio Solutions team at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines, Dr. Dang holds a unique role in the pharmacy sector, where he has a behind-the-scenes role in the patient experience.
Since childhood, Dr. Dang had an interest in pharmacy. “Growing up, I saw the pharmacist as the one to answer questions and act as a readily available resource for patients. I knew that was what I wanted to do then – be a part of that patient’s experience and help them get better,” he recalls.
This innate desire propelled him to join the Pharmacy Program at PCOM Georgia. There, Dr. Dang took every opportunity to gain experience and learn about pharmacy. During this time, he still carried a passion for business. “I have always had a commercial mindset, so I’m always thinking through a business or marketing lens,” Dr. Dang shares. “I really wanted to find out how I could find the perfect blend of my marketing strengths and pharmacy strengths, so I registered for a pharmaceutical marketing elective, which provided so much insight and an introduction into marketing in the pharmaceutical industry.”
Following this introduction into the commercial pharmaceutical space, a pivotal moment for Dr. Dang was when he pursued a 10-week APPE rotation through Bayer Pharmaceuticals. “That rotation gave me so much insight into the world of pharmaceutical marketing, and I loved it. It truly kickstarted my drive towards the non-traditional sector of pharmacy,” he shares. There, he gained a more well-rounded understanding of the various areas within the commercial functional area such as market access, analytics, market research, and business development.
Dr. Dang graduated from PCOM during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. “When I graduated, I entered into the year of the COVID pandemic in retail pharmacy, which was incredibly hectic to navigate,” he recalls. “There were many abrupt changes and shifts in patient interactions that made it tough, but it gave me important insight that I utilize in my current position.”
In his current role at Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Dang gets to utilize his pharmacy expertise while also delving into the data and marketing side of the industry. “I get to look at the ‘what and why’ when it comes to pharmaceutical products performance behaviors. ‘Why are we seeing increased product switching, and what could be the potential drivers?’ or ‘Why would we see physicians increasing prescription of this product over another to patients?’” he explains. “My role is unique in that I know from my pharmacy experience what the patients may be saying or experiencing, but I can also see what the data is finding.”
Analytics are a crucial element in Dr. Dang’s day-to-day life, as projects can be different every day. He says, “My analytic data ranges from the performance of our product or our competitor’s product to meeting product demand forecasts and seeing what channels these medicines are going towards, whether that be Commercial insurance or Medicaid. It keeps it interesting.”
While he doesn’t work in a traditional pharmacy role behind the counter, the patient experience still has a large impact on Dr. Dang’s work. “When we do double-blinded market research on a product, we will get patient feedback or information from patients and/or healthcare providers but we won’t know who they are and vice versa,” he explains. “As we build out our key business questions and research questions, I try to put myself in the patients’ shoes to better understand their perspective in order to ask the right research questions in the appropriate manner. I can use the information from the research to help inform strategies that could provide a more positive impact for patients.”
Dr. Dang says that making an impact on strategy or finding a meaningful insight for the team is one of the most rewarding parts of his position, however, his role does come with challenges. “Having a clinical background is beneficial, but it can sometimes be difficult to step out of the clinical way of thinking and get into the full strategic business mindset given the type of education I’ve had as a pharmacist,” he shares. “That being said, it does work uniquely in the way that I know what patients are thinking while also having experience helping patients in the retail & payor realms.”
In the world of pharmacy, Dr. Dang believes that career paths are evolving, with more people branching into non-traditional roles. “People are starting to realize that they can still make a difference in a non-traditional career, even in ways that are creative and collaborative,” he explains. “I’d advise anyone to stay curious and always be open-minded about where your career can take you.”
