Welcome!

Hey everyone,

I am now officially in the second year of the MBiotech program, and six months into my internship at Astellas Pharma. The last update from me was in March, at which point I was just finishing up my coursework for the semester.

First off, I want to take this opportunity to comment on a course I enrolled in at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, St. George campus: Pharmaceutical Strategy (RSM2017H) taught by Will Mitchell. Take it with a grain of salt, but I think this is one of the most important courses for learning about the pharmaceutical industry. I started this course at the same time as my internship, and I found that it helped me recognize and contextualize a lot of the new information being thrown at me at work. On top of that, given that the course is at Rotman, it’s a chance to meet with a very, very diverse group of people. All in all, it was a useful and refreshing experience. My only warning is that if you plan to start this course at the same time as your internship, be prepared to deal with the brutal Canadian winter during your commutes.

Next, the internship. Now, in all honesty, it’s too early for me to give advice regarding what you should do (or not do) throughout your internship. Everyone goes into their internship with one goal: To secure a higher-paying full-time, permanent job. There are a hundred ways to go about achieving this, but since I’m only six months in, I can’t speak to one of them. However, stay tuned for the MBiotech January 2020 update and I might have something for you. Moving on – The pharmaceutical industry is actually really nice. There are a lot of unique, fun experiences: Sales meetings, development conferences, dinners, and traveling. I’m seeing a trend here; hotels & dinners. The header image is the view from the rooftop pool at Hotel X, where we stayed one week for a conference. Also, it is nice to know that at the end of the day, your work is helping someone live longer and/or better lives. I would recommend Astellas Pharma Canada unreservedly as a place for a new professional to start their careers in the industry. The size of the company makes it a great environment for learning the ropes extremely quickly, and the culture is incredible.

More to come in the next update.