By Nitish Khurana, chair; Pouya Hadipour, chair-elect; and Katherine Redd, vice chair
The University of Utah AAPS Student Chapter enrolled approximately 15 members this year. This number might seem small, but it represents almost all of the graduate students in our department! Our small size gives us a family feel and environment, allowing our members to connect on a more personal level and learn a lot from one another in the process. This makes us a unique chapter, as we can address and discuss everyone’s requests and suggestions.
This year, the focus of our chapter was for everyone to be able to succeed in their research endeavors by keeping a positive attitude and mindset. The biggest question a graduate student has during his or her doctoral studies is typically: “What’s next?” To help our student members answer this question, we invited speakers from both academia and industry to cover the broad spectrum of student interests. AAPS support not only allowed us to invite speakers, but also to host interactive sessions with said speakers to help students resolve questions about their futures and learn how to tackle the challenges of pursuing a Ph.D. Additionally, we used remaining AAPS funds to organize a student social retreat to help build teamwork, networking skills, and a positive learning environment.
One of our invited speakers was AAPS ambassador Elena Enioutina, Ph.D., who gave a talk on the timely topic Immunomodulators: Are They a Solution for Patients with Immune Disorders? This topic was selected by students in a survey that we sent out to gauge interest in various topics. Erica Vander Mause, one of our chapter members, says: “The student chapter of AAPS has exposed me to the pharmaceutical industry. Our student chapter has allowed us to invite speakers outside of our usual academic seminar schedule. They have taught me a lot about what to expect when I finish my Ph.D. and transition to industry. The student chapter has also fostered a community here at the U of U where I have become more connected with my fellow pharmaceutical chemistry graduate students.”
Another invited speaker—and AAPS member—was Kevin Warner, Ph.D., from Alucent Biomedical and an alumnus of our department. We organized a student-speaker interaction session with Warner, where the members of our chapter could ask all kinds of questions: about their present course of action, future plans, how to prepare now for an academic or industrial position, and more. Such individualized interactions allowed us to explore the challenges that lie in front of us and to be better prepared for whatever comes next. Warner’s talk, Application of Quality by Design Principles to Formulation and Process Development, helped us better understand a topic that will be essential for anyone hoping to transition into industry after graduation. Overall, funding from AAPS to our student chapter has enriched the lives of our graduate students for the better!
Carol Lim, Ph.D., the interim chair of our department says, “Our AAPS Utah Student Chapter fosters a sense of community for our students and provides opportunities to learn and to network. Our students have gained valuable insights from our AAPS invited speakers. We are also proud to note the accomplishments of our student members, which include an NIH National Research Service Award to Nithya Subrahmanyam (2017–2022), Skaggs Graduate Research Fellowship to Sun Jin Kim (2017–2018), Kuramoto Fellowship to Phong Lu (2017–2018), UU Graduate Research Fellowship to Peng Wang (2018–2019), UU Diversity Fellowship to Jessica McCombs (2018–2019), and the Portland Chapter of the UU Alumni Association Chapter Scholarship to Katherine Redd Bowman (2018). Thank you, AAPS, for making our students become well-rounded scientists!”