Special Guest: Danielle Brill

Position: Vice President of Equity Research at Needham & Company

Interview Summary

Matt: Matt Paterini here with The Nontraditional Pharmacist! Welcome to tonight’s episode where we are joined by Danielle Brill of Needham & Company. She is Vice President of Equity Research, so we will get into that here in just a little bit. At The Nontraditional Pharmacist, we’re constantly getting inquiries about how pharmacists can apply their skills to business and industry, so I think Danielle is going to bring a very unique perspective today to some of those roles. She had a very unique role in equity research in conducting evaluation research of biotechnology companies. Danielle, welcome to The Nontraditional Pharmacist, part of the Pharmacy Podcast Network. We like to start off every episode kind of the same way and that is learning a little bit about your background. If you could, please describe your path through pharmacy school and how you got to your role today.

I first got a bachelor’s in science at Michigan State University, and then I moved to New York City where I worked in a research lab for drug development and lymphoma for a couple of years before I decided that I wanted to go and pursue my PharmD. I was was debating between medical school and a PhD at the time, I didn’t know much about the PharmD, and my mentor actually said that if you’re interested in pharmacology and you like the clinical aspect that a PharmD was the route you go. So I went to Rutger’s pharmacy school and I had thought that I was going to be a clinical pharmacist. I applied for a residency. I had already fully committed to the clinical path. But during my experiential rotations I did an elective rotation here at Needham & Company. My husband actually works in finance on Wall Street and I had always wondered what those people are up to. So I thought I’d just check it out. And I actually found it super fascinating!

At that point I had already committed to my residency and was on my way. But I stayed in touch with my boss here at Needham and a few years later he actually reached out to me to see if I was interested in a role. So I went for it, and I love it, and I think it’s a great opportunity for pharmacists to dive in a little bit more!