As North Carolina’s life sciences industry continues to hire, East Carolina University is working to make sure students in the eastern part of the state are ready to fill those jobs. On October 8, 2026, ECU’s Eastern Region Pharma Center hosted PharmaFest, a free career event at the Main Campus Student Center in Greenville that brought regional pharmaceutical employers face to face with students and alumni.
The event was open to students from every academic major, not just the sciences, reflecting the wide range of roles the pharmaceutical industry needs to fill. Company representatives recruited attendees and talked through pathways into the field, while ECU alumni shared their own experiences building pharma careers. Students and alumni from partner community colleges in Pitt, Wilson, Edgecombe, Nash, Craven and Johnston counties were also invited, extending the event’s reach across the region.
PharmaFest was supported by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and the Golden LEAF Foundation, along with ECU’s Office of Continuing and Professional Education and Career Services.
A Strong Market for Life Sciences Talent
The event comes as North Carolina cements its place among the country’s top life sciences hubs. According to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the state is home to more than 860 life sciences and pharmaceutical companies employing more than 76,000 people, with an average annual industry salary of about $121,000.
Much of that activity is concentrated in eastern North Carolina’s BioPharma Crescent, a five-county region spanning Pitt, Johnston, Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe counties. The area is home to major manufacturers including Thermo Fisher Scientific, Novo Nordisk, Grifols and Pfizer, and the companies partnering with the pharma center are investing roughly $3 billion across the region.
Building the Pipeline from Classroom to Career
ECU launched the Eastern Region Pharma Center in 2021 with a nearly $1.9 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, building on an earlier $1.1 million Golden LEAF investment in 2015 that created a pharmaceutical training network at the university. The center was designed to address a regional shortage of pharmaceutical workers with four-year degrees and to train both students and current employees in advanced manufacturing techniques.
Housed in ECU’s Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building, the center partners with 15 regional pharmaceutical companies and five community colleges: Pitt Community College, Johnston Community College, Wilson Community College, Nash Community College and Edgecombe Community College. Through its Pharma Pathways Program, ECU and community college staff work together to raise awareness of pharma careers and guide students from two-year programs into ECU degrees that lead to higher-paying roles in the region.
Students also get hands-on exposure to the technologies reshaping the industry, including single-use systems, continuous biomanufacturing and Pharma 4.0 practices, preparing them for where pharmaceutical manufacturing is headed rather than where it has been.
For eastern North Carolina, the payoff goes beyond filling open positions. By connecting local students with local employers, events like PharmaFest help keep homegrown talent in the region and give rural communities a stronger stake in one of the state’s fastest-growing industries.
