SOP Students Host “Evening with Industry” at Shady Grove
Speakers from different areas of the pharmaceutical industry share their experiences and offer career advice to students.
By Kiana Harvey
March 11, 2013
On March 4, students from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy hosted an “Evening with Industry” at the Universities at Shady Grove. The event was designed to provide students in the School’s Doctor of Pharmacy program at Shady Grove with an opportunity to network with pharmacists who currently work or have worked in an industry setting.
Muhammad Sheheryar, Naim Haque, and Mary Li, first-year student pharmacists from the School’s Shady Grove campus, worked together to plan and organize the event, which was attended by six speakers from the pharmaceutical industry, including; Shailaja Somaraju, PhD ‘99, director of the pulmonary division at Next Breath, LLC; and Ryan Criste, PhD, Jacob Wesley, PharmD ‘11, MS, Iliana Cheng, PharmD ‘11, MPH, and Fatemeh Tavakkoli, PharmD ‘12, all from MedImmune. Richard Dalby, PhD, FAAPS, the School’s associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of pharmaceutical sciences, also participated.
“Many pharmacy students at Shady Grove wanted to learn more about the opportunities that are available for pharmacists in industry. Fortunately, our campus is located close to several major pharmaceutical companies,” says Sheheryar. “We invited pharmacists currently working for some of those companies to speak with students at Shady Grove about their experience, education, and training.”
“This event provided a great opportunity for students to learn about the wide range of careers available to individuals with Doctor of Pharmacy degrees,” continues Dalby. “All of the students were enthusiastic, engaging, and professional. They displayed many of the skills that, when augmented by technical competency, will make them exactly the kinds of students for which an employer — industrial or otherwise –will look.”
The evening began with speaker introductions. Following introductions, each speaker described his or her current job and time spent working in the industry. Each speaker also provided advice to those students who want to become industrial pharmacists in the future. Dinner provided another opportunity for speakers to interact with the students.
“I had a great experience organizing the event with my classmates. It gave me an opportunity to learn about the planning required to host an event of this caliber,” says Haque. “It also gave me a chance to network with a lot of people from Shady Grove and the industry. I was happy to hear that many of the students found this event to be as informative and helpful as I did.”
This event was well-attended and provided a great experience for students who wanted to learn about job opportunities available in the pharmaceutical industry.
“This event has boosted our confidence to organize similar events in the future,” says Li. “We would appreciate the opportunity to host more events that give students the opportunity to meet more pharmacists in different positions throughout the profession.”
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