Share your experience_ By Saloni Daftardar
In
response to our ‘Share your experience’ initiative, Saloni Daftardar kindly
agreed to write a post for us. She is an MS Candidate at College of Pharmacy of
the Toledo University, Ohio.
The
Grad School: Journey So Far…
Today,
research is an international pursuit which has opened myriad of opportunities
for us, students, to explore and invent new ideas which will provide an impetus
to opening the boundaries in drug development and drive the needed
breakthroughs. Once we choose to study abroad, we get our own share of
experiences and challenges that make this “journey”, exciting, difficult but
highly rewarding. Here are some of the lessons I learnt as I march forward in
my journey as a pharmacy student in US.
The
curriculum
The
first year of school primarily focuses on laying a foundation for Industrial
Pharmacy with courses such as advanced drug delivery systems, physical
pharmacy, toxicokinetics, dosage form design and advanced analytical
techniques. I have realised that more than just gaining knowledge, this
foundational understanding of concepts enables seamless communication related
to the subject. The curriculum also has biostatistics as a mandatory subject.
Being a pharmacy student (it is implied that we are not maths lovers!), it was
quite dreadful to accept the fact that I had to take this subject; but now, I
cannot be happier that I learnt such an interesting and important course!
Research is incomplete without statistically analysing the observed data.
That’s how the term “statistically significant” makes a whole lot of
difference.
The
Lab
Our
lab deals with solid state chemistry, pre-formulation, dosage form design
pertaining to novel drug delivery systems. Application of theory-to-practice is
strongly enforced here. I had to select my research topic (some advisors give
you one). This can be daunting but can help you inculcate the ability of
processing the work done by others in some relevant direction. This involves
processing the available information, critical analysis of the hypothesis and
methods and effectively implementing this data to support your new ideas. One
such area that intrigued me was taste masking. Taste masking of bitter drugs
has been a crucial area of research. Newer techniques and novel excipients to
mask the bitter taste of an API are being explored. I have realised that
focussing only on the pharmaceutical aspects for dosage form innovation isn’t
enough; using the appropriate technology in order to achieve the desired
results is the need of the hour. Like how amazed I was to know that an
intensely bitter drug could be taste masked using nanospun mats by
appropriately engineered electrospinning device!
Advisor
– He is the Boss!
One
of the most crucial factors of a successful grad study is the mentoring and
guidance that we receive from the graduate advisor. Knowing what the advisor
expects from you well in advance is more important than assessing the skills
that you will learn in the grad school or the career prospects later. It’s
important to know the advisor’s research area, expected work habits (current
graduate students provide these details), background skills and experience. Effective
communication with the advisor plays a decisive role of how our graduate
journey and life thereafter would be. So, one must do his homework well! It
requires a great deal of planning. As such, if you want to pursue a career in
pharmaceutical industry after your graduate school, it is perfectly fine to
talk (Ask, and you shall receive!) about this with your advisor before starting
the research so that your project can be groomed in that direction, may be,
using some techniques or software which may be a prerequisite skillset for
getting a job in the industry. Thus, a
productive student-advisor relationship is a vital aspect of smooth and
successful grad life.
Money
matters!
There
are numerous scholarships, fellowships, travel grants and so on, available for
students. I have made myself habituated to browsing for such offers on a timely
basis. Sometimes in order to be eligible for such financial aid, you are
expected to write grants or present your work in form of abstracts or posters.
Here, it is important to maintain a GPA of 3.0 out of 4. So, it is better to be
on your toes to be in the race.
Networking
Our
focus while doing research should be on publishing the data in form of journals
or posters at various conferences. Be it academics or industry, you need to
market your skills. This is one thing that I got to learn from my fellow mates.
Proper documentation, presentation and effective interpersonal skills are the
three fundamentals to excel in the system of innovation. These days, networking
has become much more important than just building your resume. Attending
conferences is the best opportunity to reach out to concerned people in
academia and industry. So, make sure you take your CV and business cards along!
Degree
is essential but Internship makes a difference
To
make the process of fetching a job in pharmaceutical industry little easier,
working as an intern to gain practical experience can prove to be helpful. Sometimes,
your choice of school or university and its location are decisive factors in
getting such internships as pharmaceutical industries are mostly located in
regions or pockets, (mainly East Coast in North America) which prefer students
from nearby schools. During the internships, one can actually understand the
work culture which is something much more essential to comprehend than gaining
hands-on experience. We, students, should use this platform to the best of our
capabilities to establish relations with the mentors in industry and network
thereby making our chances of getting our dream job or a PhD in a reputed
school.
Think
out-of-the-box
Today’s
industry has become stagnant and saturated. Having said this, there still are opportunities
if you know the right direction to look for them. There is a need of people who
can think out-of-the-box. There is a need to do something apart from normal
coursework and curriculum. It doesn’t have to focus only on research but other
activities such as developing leadership qualities in academics, knowledge of
intellectual property and developing managerial skills. It is time we develop
interest in such value-adding activities which can help in overall development
of intellectual minds.
Explore
new domains of pharmaceutical industry
Apart
from the backbone of pharmacy, that is, pharmaceutical sciences, there are
several other pharmaceutical arenas that are gaining importance in industry.
Now-a-days, field of pharmacosocioeconomics and health outcomes has received
immense limelight in the West. It applies the methodologies to develop,
implement, and evaluate programs that lower healthcare costs and improve
outcomes. The definitions are changing, and we need to change in order to be in
the race. Be well read and be smart!
Kudos
to Saloni for writing such a wonderful blog post. It not only showcases the
important aspects of MS in the USA, but also gives you essential tips about survival.
As students, we often tend to ignore small things which can prove to be crucial
later. Hence, Saloni’s post can prove to be very helpful for all the students
who are pursuing their MS or about to start their MS programs.
We
invite more and more such students to write about their experiences in pursuing
their Masters program.
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