Job Description

The Future Talent Program features Cooperative (Co-op) education that lasts up to 6 months and will include one or more projects. These opportunities in our Research and Development Division can provide you with great development and a chance to see if we are the right company for your long-term goals.

Our Company Research Lab's Quantitative Pharmacology & Pharmacometrics (QP2) group within the Translational Medicine department is seeking highly motivated students for the 2027 Summer Internship Program. 

QP2 provides mathematical modeling, simulation, and pharmacokinetic / pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) analysis to enable drug development decisions across the pipeline - starting at discovery / preclinical investigation, through early-stage clinical trials, to late-stage clinical trials and drug registration.

As a QP2 intern, you will work closely with experienced scientists and mentors to develop and apply innovative mathematical, physiological, pharmacological, and statistical models that support drug development and advance quantitative capabilities within the organization. Interns will have opportunities to collaborate across multidisciplinary teams, contribute to scientific presentations and publications, and gain broad exposure to the drug development process.

A wide variety of scientific projects will be available to interns, on topics such as (but not limited to):

• Pharmacometrics (PopPK, PK/PD Modeling, ER Analysis)

• Physiologically based Pharmacokinetics (PBPK)

• Translational modeling Semi-mechanistic modeling

• Interactive visualizations for modeling & simulation

• Automation and scaling of modeling analyses for rapid decision-making

• Machine learning and data science applications in clinical pharmacology

• Leveraging agentic AI workflows to solve drug development challenges

• We are seeking intern candidates with strong academic achievement, excellent communication skills, a collaborative mindset, and the ability to thrive in a multi-disciplinary environment.

Required Qualifications:

• Candidates must be currently enrolled in a PhD or MS degree program in Pharmacometrics, Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical PK/PD, Mathematics / Applied Mathematics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Statistics, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, or related areas.

• Candidates must be available to work full-time for 10 to 12 consecutive weeks beginning in May or June of 2027.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with programming languages such as R, NONMEM, MATLAB, Monolix, SAS, Phoenix NLME, Python

• Understanding of pharmacometric workflows, including: 

• Data wrangling and quality control

• Model development and diagnostics

• Clinical trial simulation

• Exposure-response analysis

• Report generation and regulatory documentation

• Excellent communication skills

• Strong computational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Familiarity with concepts such as Gen-AI, multi-agent workflows, tool orchestration, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)

• Familiarity with software engineering best practices, including version control (Git), and code review.

What You Will Gain

• Strong understanding of clinical pharmacology and drug development principles 

• Hands-on experience applying quantitative methods to solve real-world drug development challenges

• Mentorship from leading scientists in pharmacometrics and quantitative clinical pharmacology

• Exposure to cross-functional collaboration within a global pharmaceutical research organization

• Opportunities to contribute to scientific publications and conference presentations

Please note that this position may be closed before the posted end date or may remain open longer, at the discretion of the company.

Salary range:
The salary range for this role is $39,108 through $111,111.

FTP2027

RL2027

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

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Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails. 

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