• CU Home
  • Columbia College Web Site
  • Columbia College Alumni
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues

Cover Story

  • The Obamas

Features

  • Class Day and Commencement
  • College Celebrates Alumni Reunion Weekend, Dean’s Day 2012
  • The Full Spectrum
  • A Closer Look
  • Wallace Broecker ’53 Battles the Angry Climate Beast

Departments

  • Message from the Dean
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Within the Family
  • Around the Quads
    • Mercer, Lurie Receive Van Doren, Trilling Awards
    • Coatsworth Appointed University Provost
    • Eight Columbia Professors Win Guggenheim Fellowships
    • Board of Visitors Chair, Jonathan Lavine, Passes the Torch
    • Student Wins Lunch Date with Dean
    • Five Minutes with ... Julie Crawford
    • John W. Kluge Jr. ’05 Meets with Kluge Scholars
    • Hire Columbians
    • Alumni in the News
    • Core Scholars Create Winning Works
    • Students, Alumni Garner Research Awards
    • Student Spotlight: Richard Sun '13
    • Class of 2012 Celebrates End of Year at School Dinner
    • MacPhee Speaks to Students About Healthcare Careers
  • Roar, Lion, Roar
  • Columbia Forum

Alumni News

  • Message from CCAA President Kyra Tirana Barry ’87
  • Bookshelf
  • Class Notes
  • Obituaries
  • Alumni Corner

Alumni Profiles

  • Alumni Sons and Daughters
  • Armen Donelian ’72
  • Frank Seminara ’89
  • Dylan Voorhees ’98
  • Jennifer Medbery ’06
masthead
Contact Us
       
Home > Summer 2012 > MacPhee Speaks to Students About Healthcare Careers

Summer 2012

Around the Quads

MacPhee Speaks to Students About Healthcare Careers

  • previous
  • Summer 2012
  • next
Summer 2012

The Center for Career Education (CCE) and the Columbia College Alumni Association Career Education Committee continued their “Dinner and Discussion” series — created with the thought that there’s no better way for students to learn about a field than from people already working in it — on February 27 with speaker John MacPhee ’89, ’12 PH. MacPhee went from working on road kill crews in Massachusetts to launching some of the world’s most successful antidepressants as v.p. of Forest Laboratories. From there, he went on to become president of Strativa Pharmaceuticals and e.v.p. of Par Pharmaceutical Companies. He is now the executive director of The Jed Foundation, a suicide prevention organization founded in 2000 by Phillip Satow ’63 and his wife, Donna ’65 GS.

Speaking at the event, which was held in the Columbia Alumni Center, MacPhee offered advice about getting into the pharmaceutical industry. He emphasized the value of exploration for students just out of college, noting that he had “absolutely no idea what I wanted to do” after graduating with a political science degree and ended up in the pharmaceutical industry by chance. “A big part of this [college experience] is learning and exposing yourself to different things,” he said.

MacPhee, who graduated from the College with no work experience except in physical labor, said he was embarrassed to apply for consulting and finance jobs at firms such as McKinsey and Goldman Sachs and urged students to take advantage of CCE’s resources and to focus on networking while in college. Although he conceded that it’s a “hard job market” right now, he ended the dinner on a positive note, reminding students not to “stress out” so much and to engage fully in their job searches.

“Put yourself out there,” MacPhee said. “Be yourself. Meet people. It’ll come together very well for you.”

Benjamin W. Gittelson ’15

  • previous
  • Summer 2012
  • next
  • Download this issue as a PDF
Share this article: