I started my exploration process by thinking about the possible career opportunities that I may want to pursue in the future. The three careers I decided on were a pharmacologist, a veterinary technician, and a medical scientist. I used BLS.gov, Monster.com, and Google to find out the pros and cons of each career choice. Using BLS.gov, the website for the The Bureau of Labor Statistics I learned that the average wage for pharmacists in Virginia is $125,500, that they have a projected 3% growth in jobs in the next decade, and that I would need a doctorate or professional degree to become one. Medical scientists in Virginia have an average wage of $82,240, a projected 8% growth in jobs in the next decade, and also need a doctorate or professional
…show more content…
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine that is concerned with the preparations, uses, and the effect of drugs. I became interested in pharmacology in my early teenage life for the reason that I was put on a number of medications for anxiety and depression and I wanted to know how they actually worked. A surprising discovery I found early in my research was the lack of complete understanding on how drugs like antidepressants and antianxiety medications worked. With over 60 years of research on important neurotransmitters such as serotonin and GABA, I was astonished that we still only had limited understanding on how altering the chemicals in the body changed our behavior. As I started to connect the dots, I realized that everyone around me is influenced by these chemicals which give rise to certain personality traits and behaviors that may not be so binary as previously thought. The fact that Fluoxetine, an antidepressant created in 1987, has now been used to treat seemingly numerous behavioral disorders such as Major Depressive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Bulimia means that our understanding of neurotransmitters such as serotonin is not as complete as some may think. Some of the related topics to pharmacology that I am interested in include working with clinical trials, veterinary medicine, drug design, and researching in a laboratory
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine that is concerned with the preparations, uses, and the effect of drugs. I became interested in pharmacology in my early teenage life for the reason that I was put on a number of medications for anxiety and depression and I wanted to know how they actually worked. A surprising discovery I found early in my research was the lack of complete understanding on how drugs like antidepressants and antianxiety medications worked. With over 60 years of research on important neurotransmitters such as serotonin and GABA, I was astonished that we still only had limited understanding on how altering the chemicals in the body changed our behavior. As I started to connect the dots, I realized that everyone around me is influenced by these chemicals which give rise to certain personality traits and behaviors that may not be so binary as previously thought. The fact that Fluoxetine, an antidepressant created in 1987, has now been used to treat seemingly numerous behavioral disorders such as Major Depressive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Bulimia means that our understanding of neurotransmitters such as serotonin is not as complete as some may think. Some of the related topics to pharmacology that I am interested in include working with clinical trials, veterinary medicine, drug design, and researching in a laboratory