The Next Chapter
During the past year, students and faculty advisors have been busy establishing KGI student chapters of three national professional societies.
Students, faculty and recent graduates have put in a lot of time and effort over the course of the past year to establish student chapters of three professional pharmaceutical societies at KGI.
Last January, Mimi Nguyen '12 worked in collaboration with faculty advisor Dr. Ian Phillips to found a chapter of the Drug Information Association (DIA). The chapter is dedicated to the mission of the DIA, which is to foster innovation and provide a forum for knowledge exchange about the
lifecycle management of pharmaceuticals and other medical products. The KGI student chapter has a special interest in rare diseases and regulation of orphan drugs. This year, Onofre Bacani is serving as chapter president, while other members of the board include Jacob Bowland, vice president, Hoang-Lan Tran, secretary and Kencey Busick, treasurer.
The second KGI student chapter is affiliated with the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE). Originally created as a forum for pharmaceutical technical professionals to improve efficiency and best practices, ISPE is dedicated to providing solutions and information about good manufacturing practices and quality assurance and control. The KGI chapter of ISPE has provided informative tours of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, as well as helped to develop skills to prepare student members to enter industry. Student members are also able to tap into the vast ISPE network of life science professionals in industry. The KGI chapter is currently led by Melissa Sathavipat as president, Stephen Kim as vice president, Giselle Perez and Nathan Hsu as secretary and treasurer, respectively.
Finally, after months of preparation, KGI has joined the Parental Drug Association Southern California chapter as the first student chapter in SoCal. PDA has been bringing together pharmaceutical industry professionals since its inception in 1946. As the leading global professional organization of science, technology and regulation, PDA provides education and resources to advance science and regulation.
The group held their first industry event on November 9 featuring three distinguished guest speakers: Rick Lit, vice president of regulatory affairs in chemistry, manufacturing and controls, Amgen; Mickey Yracebum, associate director of manufacturing, Gilead; and Dr. Marsha Hardiman, senior manager of quality, Medtronic.
Dr. Lit’s talk included a discussion of Amgen's worldwide reach and their focus on emerging markets outside the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Yraceburn spoke about next-generation biologics and the various ways that companies are addressing the development of biosimilars, while Ms. Hardiman's talk covered Medtronic's growth in the areas of chronic and non-communicable diseases. She also answered questions about the recent meningitis outbreak and how quality regulators can respond to such situations.
“We are truly excited to have three distinguishing speakers come to KGI and share their expert knowledge on various areas of the life science industry. It is through events like this that KGI students, as the future leaders of tomorrow, keep abreast of changes in the landscape of our industry,” said chapter president and founder Jennifer Lee, who added that the group had sent advance questions to the speakers to ensure they covered topics relevant to the student audience.
In addition to Lee, the chapter's officers include Joanna Naymark, vice president, Michael Choy, director of communications, and Naren Vinayak, treasurer.
PDA Fellow and Student Chapter Faculty Advisor Vince Anicetti, who served as vice president of quality at Genentech, played a vital role in bringing the three speakers to campus.
“The PDA student chapter is a great example of KGI’s support for real-world education in the life sciences and of PDA's commitment to developing the next generation of leaders in the biopharmaceutical industry," he said. "It's exciting and fun to watch the student group develop such an impressive program as their first event. The support from the KGI staff was wonderful as always.”
Group photo:
Left to right (seated): Marsha Hardiman, senior manager quality, Medtronic; Micky Yraceburn, associate director manufacturing, Gilead; Rick Lit, VP regulatory CMC, Amgen
Left to right (standing): Vince Anicetti, PDA Fellow and faculty advisor; Joanna Naymark, PDA student chapter VP; Michael Choy, director of communications; Naren Vinayak, treasurer