This summer I worked in the Policy and Research department at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade organization representing the major brand drug manufacturers in the US. While there I had the opportunity to attend briefings and panels around D.C. on many timely topics, including the opioid epidemic and drug pricing, keeping the department informed on what stakeholders were saying about drugs across the city. I also worked on two longer-term projects this summer, creating an easy-to-use catalog of member companies’ products and pipeline, and modeling potential cost savings for state Medicaid programs based on previous innovations in different states.

I learned a lot about how things happen in Washington by working here while Congress debated the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) and the opioid crisis deepened. With a breadth of focus areas in health policy I was able to better understand how different stakeholders come together to craft their own stories about health in the US, and how they influence policy.