I was brought up in the UAE and Oman and my family is from India. I did my Bachelor’s in Biotechnology in India, and my Master’s in Biotechnology at the University of Melbourne. I worked in a retail Compounding Pharmacy for 5 years before I started the Master of Good Manufacturing Practice course.
I have always been passionate about sciences in general, and I always wanted to work in healthcare in some aspect. Human biology is interesting to me, and the study of the effect of treatments on that biology was appealing to me.
Pharmaceuticals, medical devices and particularly biotechnology was the ideal place for me to be and I pursued that pathway. Eventually, as I didn’t want to be in a lab research environment but wanted to be involved in new therapeutics, Clinical Trial Operations was the perfect place for me to work – where cutting-edge research is on the precipice of human use and benefit, which is very interesting to me.
I came across the Good Manufacturing Practice course at UTS Open Day back in 2019 and felt that it fit the bill for my aspirations. The degree was focused on training students with strong industry-relevant skills, and the two industrial research projects shown were very appealing to gain direct industry experience.
I also spoke to some UTS alumni, all of whom mentioned the kind environment and support UTS had, as well as its focus on industry-relevant skills.
Upon joining the course, I was taught the principles of maintaining quality in the manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, in alignment with regulatory requirements.
Fundamentally, however, the course taught me how to apply quality management, risk management and process management to any process or procedure in any industry.
The lecturers have such a wealth of knowledge, and it was great to be taught by them. The field where this course applies is not the most open to the layperson, and the fact that I was able to learn so much from the lecturers who have in-depth experience in all aspects of the field was extremely rewarding.
During my full-time course, there was a point at which I was doing the industrial research project at a pharma company, a separate internship at a biotech commercialisation firm, working online part-time, and attempting to maintain a semblance of a socially distanced social life at the same time. I also place great value on personal time, and my hobbies.
It wasn’t easy, but it was all about showing commitment to each of these things. Do it all, do it well, and have fun along the way.
The course was thankfully very condensed into parts of the week, such as on a Monday and Tuesday for the lectures and assignment submission deadlines, which meant the rest of the week was available for life.
I am now working as a Clinical Trial Administrator at LabCorp Drug Development, a Clinical Research Organisation that is contracted to monitor and manage clinical trials across the world for some of the largest pharmaceutical organisations globally.
The course itself provided understanding of the development process for therapeutics, from molecule to market, and provided me with a strong basis in maintaining quality in all aspects, which I can directly apply in this role.
This course provides pathways to several different career opportunities, particularly within the pharmaceuticals and medical devices sectors. If a prospective student has a goal to be a part of these industries, there is immense potential that can be extracted from this course in achieving that goal.
In future, I want to form a successful career in clinical trial operations and go up the ladder in the management of clinical studies in the Australia and New Zealand region, as well as beyond.
Find out more about Good Manufacturing Practice at UTS
This article was originally published by UTS and is republished here with permission from UTS.
