Alum finds purpose in patient care through hematology at Genentech

In high school, Melissa Montez, PharmD ’00, thought she would become a certified public accountant, until a high school teacher suggested an after-school job at a small community pharmacy that changed her life, ultimately leading her to become principal medical science director in hematology at Genentech.

“I've had opportunities to work on what I would consider breakthroughs in the treatment of oncology/hematology. I have the privilege to work on new treatment options that have changed the paradigm for treating patients with leukemias,” she said. “I always focus on the impact, because every patient matters.”

Impact and inspiration in oncology

Today Montez is a strong proponent of mentorship, as a UCSF Pharmacy Alumni Association board member.

“When you're in pharmacy school, you often don't know what the opportunities are going to be,” she said. “Networking is such a huge part of your career path. It’s hard to do when you're so busy just trying to get through school, but it's so important.”

While Montez was earning her PharmD from the UCSF School of Pharmacy, she completed her final year of rotations at UC Davis. It was there that a preceptor sparked her interest in oncology, which she chose as her specialization for her pharmacy residency at Stanford Health Care.

“I still remember, during my oncology rotations, having really difficult conversations with patients and families about chemotherapy treatment side effects and sometimes hospice care. With that comes a lot of counseling on pain management and infectious disease topics that you need to discuss, and the pharmacist plays a critical role,” Montez said. “I saw the impact that pharmacists can have on patient care. I saw the gratitude from everyone — the physicians, nurses, and families — about what the pharmacist brings to the totality of care for these patients.”

Pivoting to industry from clinical care

Following residency, Montez became a hematology/oncology pharmacist at Stanford Health Care. She spent seven years there, and says she thought she’d never leave.

“Walking onto the oncology floors was like an adrenaline rush, because you never knew what someone was going to ask you. You really had to use your clinical skills,” she said. “One of the things UCSF does well is preparing students to have high clinical acumen.”

Eventually, one of Montez’ Stanford colleagues went on to work at Genentech and recommended that she consider a role in industry. At the time, biotech wasn’t an obvious career path for a clinical pharmacist, but she was intrigued by the various career paths for pharmacists in industry, so she began her journey at Genentech in 2007 as a medical communications scientist.

Connecting with purpose

“What I’ve found working in industry is that PharmDs have many career opportunities. Students don’t really know the impact pharmacists can have working in industry. It’s really underestimated,” she said. “Genentech opened my eyes to the variety of avenues you can take in industry, from medical affairs to regulatory to drug information, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, and clinical development. There is such a variety of different roles you can have with a PharmD degree and great opportunities to grow and develop your career, while continuing to have patient impact.”

Though Montez was hesitant at first about leaving direct patient care for her first Genentech role in medical communications, she eventually became an expert in medical affairs and is now a principal medical science director and lead for the Myeloid disease program.

After 18 years at Genentech, the impact on patient care reaffirms her sense of purpose.

“I still get emails from people, even within our company, about someone in their family getting diagnosed with an acute leukemia and asking for information on treatment options or clinical trials. Those are the moments that you realize that the work you're doing is important.”