Progress Towards Unlocking Opportunities for Entry-Level Positions in Regulatory Affairs

Description: The healthcare industry faces a significant demand for trained regulatory professionals, with open positions outnumbering available candidates. Entry-level roles in regulatory affairs pose a challenge, particularly for candidates with impressive academic qualifications but limited practical experience. Graduates with regulatory affairs degrees often struggle to secure suitable positions due to a perceived lack of experience, although they could be a long-term solution to the talent gap in the regulatory affairs profession.

Transitioning from other professions into regulatory affairs is equally challenging for non-regulatory professionals. Existing training programs, such as internships and fellowships, are deemed inadequate due to their short duration or limited availability to specific groups, like post-doctoral fellowships for PharmDs. This inadequacy hinders their effectiveness in preparing candidates for entry-level regulatory affairs positions.

A potential solution involves enhancing or creating new programs specifically designed to prepare candidates for these roles. Collaboration among stakeholders, including academic institutions offering regulatory affairs training, professional competency evaluators (e.g., RAPS), companies seeking entry-level candidates, and recruiting agencies, is essential. Last year's RAPS Convergence featured a panel of representatives from these groups, initiating a transparent conversation to address the shortage of qualified regulatory affairs professionals. The discussions continued beyond the event, leading to the exploration of new initiatives.

This year's panel aims to provide an update on progress, share successes, and explore new ideas to maintain momentum and advance initiatives identified through stakeholder engagements. The goal is to find lasting solutions to the perennial problem of the shortage of qualified regulatory affairs professionals in the industry.