University of Kentucky AAPS Student Chapter

By Freddy Arce           

Located in the heart of the horse capital of the world—Lexington, Ky.—is the University of Kentucky's (UK) AAPS student chapter. Here at UK, we strive to provide members with opportunities to enhance their education, broaden their network, engage with the community, and launch their careers.

Enhancing Education

This year, our student chapter hosted the annual Drug Discovery and Development Colloquium. The colloquium was the result of a collaboration between the University of Arkansas Little Rock and the UK. A variety of topics exploring the gamut of the drug development process were discussed as graduate students and postdocs presented their work alongside other renowned scientists. Most notably, the 2018 AAPS President, Christopher R. McCurdy, Ph.D. (University of Florida), gave a keynote presentation on his work developing novel sigma receptor ligands. Throughout the three-day colloquium, students could interact with the speakers through poster presentations, a panel discussion, and a Young Investigator’s roundtable and breakfast.

Our chapter also participated in the AAPS Visiting Scientist Program and was fortunate to host Eli Lilly scientists Dan Mudra, Ph.D., and Mike Wiley, Ph.D., at the UK College of Pharmacy. They presented a seminar entitled Find Out What You Don’t Know—A Recurring Lesson from Years of Lead Generation Research to our group, and joined students for breakfast, lunch, and a breakout discussion focused on learning from their career experiences. These opportunities ensure our students are receiving a well-rounded education in scientific communication and professional career planning.

Broadening Networks

At UK, we are fortunate to have a network of alumni that are succeeding and advancing within their careers. Through the help of alum Aimee Bence Lin, Ph.D., we were able to visit Eli Lilly National Headquarters and tour the facilities this past summer. The trip included presentations from several scientists within the company, as well as from students willing to share their work with the scientists.

 In addition, looking to expose our members to experts in varying career paths, we invited Melissa Rondeau, Ph.D., to share her experiences and how she became the vice president of clinical services at Symbiotix. We are grateful to all of the alumni for their mentorship and willingness to participate in the development of future scientists.  

Engaging with the Community

Every year our chapter participates in the annual Engineering Day hosted by the UK’s College of Engineering. This past year, we had a showcase demonstrating amorphous states by flash freezing flowers and fruits in liquid nitrogen as well as the function of enzymes and catalysts with “elephant toothpaste.” The purpose of this event is to amaze, inform, and delight children K–12 on all the amazing things that engineers and scientists do.

In addition to Engineering Day, our chapter maintains close relationships with nearby schools and recently had some members participating in Expanding Your Horizons, a conference for middle school students designed to spark interest in STEM activities and careers. At the conference, our members helped students determine the pH of orange juice, soda, salt water, bleach, and soapy water using red cabbage.

Launching Careers

Our chapter was fortunate to host representatives from Camargo Pharmaceutical Services, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They presented A Day in the Life of a Camargo Research Scientist and shared a few tips about interviewing and résumé building.

Our chapter also works to engage some of the more senior students in the development of their peers. Recently, we hosted an internship panel composed of several graduate students within the department who have completed internships at well-known companies. It provided more junior students a great opportunity to ask questions on how they landed their internships, their experiences, and what they gained from them.

Overall, the UK AAPS student chapter strives to provide its members with opportunities for multidimensional education, network growth, community engagement, and career development with the hopes of developing well-rounded and socially responsible scientists of the future.