Graduate Career Profiles - MSc in Chemoinformatics
Recent graduates of the MSc in Chemoinformatics programme have written about their experience in their first posts after finishing the programme. The profiles below give a flavour of the type of organisations and work you might expect to go on to after graduating with an MSc in Chemoinoformatics.
Jayshree Patel, PhD Student in Bioinformatics, University of Sheffield
"I commenced the MSc in Chemoinformatics because I felt I needed to embark on something that was new to me and that would enable me to add to my existing skills and my first degree in human genetics. The MSc course taught me a wide range of skills, including the ability to program and design databases which has enabled me to take up my current position. I am now nearly a year into my PhD in bioinformatics. I have taught myself a new programming language using the confidence I gained throughout my MSc. I also use many of the skills covered on the course to help me be more efficient now in my work. I have also gained a great deal of confidence from having carried out a dissertation study on site at Pfizer, a large pharmaceutical company, and most importantly it has enabled me to approach my research from a variety of angles and not only that of a biological point of view".
Pallav Patel, Regulatory Affairs Executive, GlaxoSmithKline
"After graduating from Sheffield I started looking for work. It was difficult at first applying to lots of pharmaceutical companies and having no joy. However, my persistence paid off and I managed to get 3 or 4 interviews all at once. I was offered a post as a Regulatory Affairs Executive with GlaxoSmithKline which I did not hesitate to take up, as I felt the opportunity for working within such a big company would be beneficial to my career progression. Regulatory affairs is all about obtaining product licences for pharmaceutical products. This involves compiling a technical dossier (containing chemical pharmaceutical data) for the health authority which provides evidence of the safety, quality and efficacy of the product. Regulatory affairs also comprises maintaining the existing licences of products and keeping up to date with any technical issues concerned with the products. I feel that the MSc course I completed at Sheffield helped me get to the interview stage with the posts I was applying for, and some of the IT-related work covered during the course has helped me immensely within this job, as it requires one to be very IT literate."