Ervaringen

Nuria van den Meerendonk, Bachelor's student

Photo of student Nuria

Why I chose CPS

I knew I wanted work in healthcare and also become a scientist, I didn’t think combining both was possible during a Bachelor's programme until I discovered CPS. The first-year curriculum is truly very interesting, the subjects are quite diverse making the courses very enjoyable. One of the important factors in making my decision was the language of instruction. Personally, CPS gave me the opportunity to return to the Netherlands after living in France for several years without shutting the door on a career in France, as English is the language of the field all over the world. Having never followed a full course in English, it can seem intimidating at first, but I have found the environment at CPS to be very supportive. When you’re struggling to find your words, many can relate and are therefore very understanding, and the others are ready to help. After only one year, I feel very comfortable using English for every situation.

How I’ve been enjoying it

I often hear from friends in other courses that the first few blocks are quite uninteresting because they are packed with theoretical knowledge, that they can’t put in context yet. Nothing is less true for CPS, from the first course theory is accompanied by projects that simulate real world problems. That is not the only way CPS prepares us beyond our study ; we are not only learning textbook knowledge but also how to communicate within the scientific community by making posters, presentations, articles and reviews just like the ones you find in scientific magazines.

Besides, with the course being very interactive, I’ve got to familiarise myself with each of the peers in my class and made some great friends during the workgroups.

Kyra Fortuin, Bachelor's alumna and professional hockey player

Why CPS?

“The CPS curriculum contains such a wide variety of courses in the field of pharmaceutical research. Obviously, there were some courses which were less appealing than others, but overall, I have immensely enjoyed my time as a CPS student. I love the hands-on approach that most courses had. The courses really encouraged us as students to immediately apply the knowledge we gained during the course in the group project which had to be delivered. I really like that CPS is such a small study with a lot of group work. This created the feeling of a sort of CPS family, as everyone was so familiar with each other.

Challenging projects combined with professional hockey career

You could make your time as CPS student as challenging as you would like it to be - students had their A-game on for everything - by conducting extended research or extra honours projects. I think I have tried to deliver my best performance for everything that I have done during my CPS studies. In combination with my professional hockey career, it sometimes was ambitious to get everything done in time and stay fully energized. But most importantly it gave me a lot of satisfaction and pride. I am truly proud of my performances and delivered projects and it only confirmed my passion for pharmaceutical sciences. My next step will be the Drug Innovation master, for which I am 100% sure that my CPS background will help me tremendously.”

Khaled Essa, Master's student 'International Master in Innovative Medicine'

Why CPS?

"Being a student in CPS taught me many things. I learned how to work with students and researchers from different backgrounds and cultures. CPS also taught me to be a fast learner, when I am faced with a research question I can quickly find a method to investigate it and learn the background about it quickly even If I am not very experienced in the subject. Doing the research internship in the final year of CPS enhanced my theoretical and practical knowledge in scientific and pharmaceutical research which is something difficult to find in a bachelor degree. All the previous aspects I mentioned prepared me very well for my master's degree and gave me a head start at the beginning of my master studies.

Future plans

I am currently finishing the first research project of my master program in the drug design group at the University of Groningen. I am working on synthesizing and developing novel small molecule drugs targeting different diseases such as cancer and Parkinson's. In September 2019, I will begin my second master research project in the pharmaceutical industry at Bayer in Germany. Furthermore, I am planning to start a Ph.D. in the field of drug design and discovery as soon as I graduate from my master studies. I am excited about what the future holds for my research career."

Caitlin Jie, PhD student in radiopharmaceuticals bij ETH Zürich

Why CPS?

"After CPS, I continued my studies by doing the Master ‘Drug Discovery and Development’ at Imperial College London, United Kingdom. Moving to a foreign country and start a new study may have been a bit overwhelming at first, yet I felt confident enough because CPS gave me sufficient (practical) knowledge. CPS has showed me a lot of different aspects within the drug pipeline; providing both theoretical knowledge but also practical experience. This has helped me a lot to decide what kind of research I really enjoy and in what field I would like to pursue further in my career. Additionally, the international community within CPS also made it easier to transition from CPS in the Netherlands to my Master in London, since I was already used to talking, writing, and reading everything in English. Furthermore, I really appreciated that CPS gave me the opportunity to gain some ‘real’ research experience by doing a research project within the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS). Even though it was only for a few months, it made me a lot more confident in the lab during my Master thesis and helped me to become a more independent researcher.

Future plans

After completing my Master at Imperial, I was sure that I wanted to continue my career within research so a PhD seemed like a logical next step. Because of my experience abroad in London, I was not limiting myself to return back to the Netherlands and do my PhD there. Therefore, the options of potential PhDs positions broadened a lot. It was important for me to find a PhD position that allows me to continue to build on techniques I’ve learned before, but also offer me plenty of opportunities to learn something completely new. In the end, I applied for a PhD in Switzerland at ETH Zürich and was fortunate enough to get an offer!"

Joep Titulaer, PhD student, Uppsala University

Why CPS?

"During my time as a CPS student, I was able to learn a lot and gain valuable practical experience that prepared me optimally for my current job, as they allowed me to design and perform experiments properly. In addition to this, as a CPS student I was working together with many different people from different backgrounds and different countries. Since I am working together with people from all over the world now, it was very helpful to already experience this during my Bachelor.

Future plans

Currently I am living and working in Sweden, I am a PhD student at Uppsala University working in close collaboration with Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Here, I am investigating the potential of novel drugs and new drug combinations for the treatment of schizophrenia. I am using behavioral assays as well as biochemical techniques to investigate how these drugs affect behavior as well as neurotransmitter levels in the brain. I hope that my research will contribute to finding more effective drugs that have fewer side effects than the drugs that are currently available for the treatment of schizophrenia."

Robin Mulders, Business Consultant

Carrièrepad

"Ik werk als business consultant bij Adviesgroep Novius. Dit is een organisatie die bedrijven helpt met complexe bedrijfstransformaties. Dit doen we bijvoorbeeld door het plannen van veranderprojecten, de samenhang te bewaken tussen de verschillende bedrijfsonderdelen en door het inrichten van bedrijfsprocessen. Nu hoor ik je denken, wat heeft dit nog met het College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CPS) te maken? Waar is de link met farmaceutische wetenschappen? En de ontwikkeling van medicijnen?

Voor mij is dit verband duidelijk, aangezien CPS mijn manier van denken heeft gevormd, zeer bruikbaar in de wetenschap, maar des te meer ook daarbuiten. En met deze manier van denken heb ik, voor ik ben begonnen te werken, mijn master Science and Business Management afgerond. Dit is een master voor studenten met een academische achtergrond die interesse hebben in het bedrijfsleven. Na een aantal onderzoeksprojecten en een afstudeerstage bij Kraft Heinz, bekend van de Heinz Ketchup, ben ik gekomen bij het werk wat ik nu doe.

Voorbereiding arbeidsmarkt

Bij het CPS heb ik een onderzoekende en probleemgerichte manier van denken ontwikkeld. CPS staat voor in het teken van 3 vragen:

  • Hoe werkt het menselijke lichaam? (gewenste situatie)
  • Wat gaat er mis tijdens een staat van ziekte? (huidige situatie)
  • Hoe komen we van de zieke naar de gezonde staat? (actieplan)

Deze manier van denken pas ik nu dagelijks toe in mijn werk als business consultant. Hierin staan namelijk 3 soortgelijke vragen centraal:

  • Hoe willen we dat de organisatie werkt? (gewenste situatie) 
  • Hoe werkt de organisatie nu? (huidige situatie)
  • Hoe komen we van de huidige situatie naar de gewenste situatie? (actieplan)

Deze onderzoekende manier van denken past bij uitstek bij de onzekere aard van het leven als consultant: bij aanvang van een project is de opdracht vaak nog niet eens bekend. Zonder voorkennis verdiep je je in het probleem om zo snel mogelijk tot de gewenste oplossing te komen. Een scenario dat veel CPS’ers zullen herkennen in de vele groepsprojecten tijdens de bachelor. Hierbij verdiep je je in een korte periode in een ziekte, waar je op voorhand nog niks over weet, om al na een paar weken tijd een concreet idee of product te presenteren. Door het stap voor stap te benaderen kan je dichter tot de kern van het probleem komen zonder dat je alle feiten hoeft te weten. Een erg leuke aanpak, met veel ruimte voor creativiteit!

Mede dankzij het CPS is wetenschap nog steeds een hobby van mij. Nog regelmatig verdiep ik mij in (neuro)wetenschappelijke ontwikkelingen en neem ik de tijd om anderen hierin mee te nemen, zelfs tijdens mijn vakantie.