Tell us a little about your what brought you to UNSW, and what do you love about your area of study?
After many years of working in the sales and marketing industry, I came to realise that this career choice wasn't right for me and it doesn't bring me the satisfaction and happiness that I am looking for. After long consideration, I decided to pursue a university degree and use it to help others as a career. I believe this will bring value and happiness to my life. I chose to study at UNSW because this is the university that I've always wanted to study at when I was in high school. The thing that I love about my area of study is that I get to interact with many advanced biomedical technologies and learn about the modern medicine and diseases, which I believe one day I can use it to help others.
What did your Co-NNECTIONS experience involve?
The leadership camp was my first activity in the program. For me, it was a great experience and a highlight of the program. I met many students from various areas of study and backgrounds. We participated in many problem-solving activities and learned how to work effectively as a team to achieve a better result. We had so much fun together and also learned so much about teamwork during this camp. After the leadership camp, I was given the opportunity to visit the Salesforce office with other students. We met some of their employees from various departments and asked them questions concerning their work experiences. It was a great experience and I got many useful interview tips from them. My final experience was the 8 weeks internship at the Sanfilippo Children’s Foundation, and it was also a highlight for me. I learned and gained many great skills during these times.
What did you do in your internship and how do you feel you personally impacted the team or contributed to the organisation?
Overall, I was involved in 3 different projects for my internship. The first was creating a competitive website review. For this project, I looked at websites from other organisations in the same industry and wrote a review about them to help the company improve its website. The second is creating a grant report. For this project, I helped the company research all government and private grants available that the company could apply for and wrote all the criteria required for these grants. The third project is the drug screening list. The company received funding from the government for a medical research project and was given a large list of drugs that will be used for testing in the study. My job was to research and write all the identified class, action of mechanism and approval of these drugs. I believe that I was able to contribute what I have learned from my degree to help reduce some workload for my supervisor.
What were the personal learnings or benefits for you in taking part in Co-NNECTIONS last year?
From the leadership camp, I’ve learned to always identify the task and the available resource whenever I’m dealing with any problem-solving task. The 8 weeks internship has given me the opportunity to practice and improve my communication skills.
What’s next on the horizon for you with your career?
After graduation, I plan to work in the pharmaceutical industry for 3 years then return to pursue a postgraduate medicine degree.