Summer 2012
Around the Quads
MacPhee Speaks to Students About Healthcare Careers
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