2026 Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) Intern (PhD)

AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Tik Tok.

Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) Internship Overview  

Envision spending your summer working with energetic colleagues and inspirational leaders, all while gaining world-class experience in one of the most dynamic organizations in the pharmaceutical industry. This is a reality for AbbVie Interns.  

AbbVie’s HEOR Team is a premier research group that has been widely recognized for its scientific expertise and leadership. Combining multiple scientific disciplines to generate cutting-edge evidence, the HEOR team supports AbbVie’s scientific strategies and demonstrates the value of innovative treatments, shaping health care decision making to improve patient care. HEOR-driven research helps with: 

• Informing strategic decisions aimed at ensuring that patients can access and benefit from appropriate therapies in a timely manner. 

• Developing and guiding pricing/reimbursement strategies based on evaluation of public health policy, the reimbursement environment, and clinical, economic, and patient-centered outcomes data. 

• Leveraging innovative research approaches and partnerships to maximize the use of RWE and patient-centric outcomes research for informing internal and external decisions that positively impact patient lives. 

• Enhancing the patient voice by leveraging patient self-reported/digital health-driven outcomes in clinical trial and real-world settings to further understand the unmet needs and establish value of innovative treatments. 

HEOR interns will work in a matrix organization with global cross-functional partners which further enables understanding of generating evidence that addresses global and local affiliate needs. Interns will support efforts for on-market or pipeline assets in one or more disease states within the areas of Immunology, Oncology, Neuroscience, Eye Care, General Medicine, and Aesthetics. 

The internship will take place in-person at AbbVie’s office in Mettawa, IL.  

Key responsibilities include: 

• Conducting literature reviews, patient-reported outcomes studies, retrospective claims or electronic medical records database analyses, prospective observational studies, economic model development, and meta-analysis.  

• Conceptualizing research plans, protocol development, managing vendors, and writing/presenting results.  

• Developing analysis plans or study protocols and conducting analyses of internal databases and/or clinical trial data.  

• Assisting in the creation of scientific materials like slide decks, white papers, abstracts, or manuscripts for disseminating research findings to internal/external audience.  

• Attending team meetings, department meetings, and cross-functional team meetings to gain a better understanding of the role of HEOR within the biopharmaceutical industries and at AbbVie.  

AbbVie’s HEOR interns work within the Value & Evidence (V&E) Team and may be placed within two V&E pillars: 

• Therapeutic Area (TA) Strategy Teams: Align to the core set of TAs (Immunology, Oncology, Neuroscience, Eye Care, and Aesthetics), leads asset/product strategies, and covers product life cycle management 

• Centers of Expertise (CoEs): Comprised of the Real-World Evidence (RWE) Team, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Team, and the Value Analytics Center (VAC) Team  

As part of the application, please include a cover letter to indicate your preference for either of the two V&E pillars listed above and a brief statement on the rationale. Your application will be considered for all HEOR summer internship opportunities. The final assignment within TA/Asset Strategy or CoEs will be determined by the internship committee and the hiring managers.  

Minimum Qualifications  

• Must be currently enrolled in a graduate level program at an accredited university, preferably pursuing a PhD in the fields of pharmacy, medicine, health services research, outcomes research, health economics, health policy, epidemiology, statistics, data analytics, economics, psychology, and other disciplines related to HEOR. 

• Applicants pursuing a PhD with a non-traditional focus area or master’s degree with relevant prior work experience may be considered (applicant must effectively demonstrate the link to / strong understanding of HEOR.) 

• Must be enrolled in university for at least one semester following the internship. 

• Must have completed at least one year of graduate level studies prior to the internship.  

• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Expected graduation date between December 2026 – June 2027. 

• Prior relevant research experience, such as in areas of healthcare and data sciences.  

• Relevant advanced course work in areas such as, but not limited to, health economics, health policy, epidemiology, psychometrics, research methods, and/or statistics. 

• Demonstrated excellent oral and written communication skills. 

• Demonstrated track record of leading and influencing teams with multiple stakeholders with different perspectives. 

• Adept in data analysis using statistical packages (e.g. SAS, R, STATA) and advanced analytical approaches. 

• Prior experience in conducting literature reviews. 

• Prior experience leading research studies. 

• Strong research skills in methods utilized in HEOR, including but not limited to health economic modeling, pharmacoepidemiology, claims-based analyses, and/or psychometrics. 

Benefits and Amenities  

• Competitive pay. 

• Relocation support for eligible students.  

• Select wellness benefits and paid holiday / sick time. 

• Mentorship from HEOR/V&E experts and industry leaders.  

• Experience in an industry setting working on impactful research projects to support brand and cross-functional strategies. 

• Exposure to development of HEOR strategies and evidence generation to meet payer and stakeholder needs. 

• Ability to interact with colleagues from diverse backgrounds across various departments such as Market Access, Medical Affairs, Clinical Development, Marketing, Epidemiology, Patient Safety, and Public Affairs. 

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state or local law: ​

Benefits and Amenities:​

• Competitive pay​

• Relocation support for eligible students​

• Select wellness benefits and paid holiday / sick time ​

• The compensation range described below is the range of possible base pay compensation that the Company believes in good faith it will pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual compensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographic location, and we may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future.​

Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole and absolute discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent with applicable law. 

AbbVie is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to operating with integrity, driving innovation, transforming lives and serving our community.  Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled. 

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