June 25, 2025
By Ashley MasseyAUBURN, Alabama - Fueled by his desire to see the real-world application of health outcomes research, the Harrison College of Pharmacy’s Tim Lai is currently completing a Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) internship with AbbVie this summer. Lai is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. with HCOP in the health outcomes research and policy sequence.
AbbVie is a pharmaceutical company that creates medicines and solutions to enhance people’s lives through research and innovation. AbbVie has a competitive internship program for both undergraduate and graduate students looking to gain experience in the pharmacy field. Their work primarily focuses on serving as an intentional pipeline into their early career development programs.
With this in mind, Lai thought that AbbVie’s mission statement and goals were similar to his own and therefore investigated the internship program. His own experience with research is what compelled him to apply.
“Having been trained as a researcher in an academic environment, I have always wanted to explore how our research in the outcomes research field is applied in the real world, especially in the process of drug development.”
Through this internship, Lai is looking forward to understanding at a deeper level the roles that Health Economics and Outcomes Research play in a product line.
“Specifically, I want to understand how the evidence we provide influences decision-making, when and how economic models are operationalized, and how patient-reported outcomes are integrated into the evidence-generating process.”
Not only does the learning of new research techniques excite Lai, but also the ability to network with a new team that has a lot more experience in the pharmacy field as professionals. He will be able to connect with other kinds of interns while working over the summer, including marketing and finance interns, not limited to just pharmacy research interns.
“AbbVie also organizes several activities for interns, which I believe will be a great opportunity to experience the company culture.”
Working with a team will be a change of pace for Lai, since he is an independent researcher at HCOP, but that excites him.
“I hope to play a pivotal role in influencing decision-making processes that improve patient outcomes, make healthcare more accessible, affordable, and align with patient needs.”
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Auburn University's Harrison College of Pharmacy is ranked among the top 20 percent of all colleges of pharmacy in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report. Fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), the College offers doctoral degrees in pharmacy (Pharm.D.) and pharmaceutical sciences (Ph.D.) while also offering a master's in pharmaceutical sciences and a bachelor’s in drug and biopharmaceutical sciences. The College’s commitment to world-class scholarship and interdisciplinary research speaks to Auburn’s overarching Carnegie R1 designation that places Auburn among the top 100 doctoral research universities in the nation. For more information about the College, please call 334.844.8348 or visit http://pharmacy.auburn.edu.