I am Tan Ching Yee. I graduated from PC216 cohort of Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry programme. I am currently working as an executive in the Analytical Department of Duopharma Innovation Sdn Bhd which is mainly in charge of analytical method development for pharmaceutical products.
Prior to 2016, I have no idea what a Pharmaceutical Chemistry programme is all about since I had never heard of this programme before.
Due to a great passion in chemistry since my studies in high school, I decided to enrol into this programme as this programme links chemistry to the pharmaceutical area, which plays important roles to human health. I was grateful that I was awarded a full scholarship from IMU that supported my undergraduate study as this had helped to reduce the financial burden of my parents.
IMU is the first university in Malaysia that offers the pharmaceutical chemistry programme. The programme provides a variety of learning modules for students to explore different areas ranging from pharmaceutical to cosmeceutical related industries.
I have been fortunate to be offered a position in the In-Licensing Department of Duopharma Innovation Sdn Bhd for my internship. After my internship, I managed to secure a working position in the Analytical Department of the same company, in which I have a great interest in. Modules which I had learnt at IMU including Pharmaceutical Analysis, Pharmaceutical Organic Chemistry and Pharmaceutics have been useful to me in my work as an analytical chemist because these modules have provided me with the basic knowledge on method development and validation.
Apart from studies, I also had opportunities to participate in various extracurricular activities through the scholarship programme, such as the IMU Scholar Fund Raising Event, IMU Research Forum and Giving Vision Project. One of my achievements in the extracurricular activities was to become a project leader of the Inter-Professional Forum. It was a forum that involved having student speakers from different programmes to discuss a real patient case. It was challenging for me to gather all students from different programmes with different schedules. With the support from my lecturer advisor and teammates, we managed to make this event a useful and meaningful learning platform for the participants. Through such event, I have learnt about the importance of co-operation among different healthcare professions, time management, teamwork as well as problem solving skills.
My advice to juniors is to gain as much knowledge as you can, including both soft skills and hard skills. Do not hesitate to ask your lecturers questions when studying in the classroom and your supervisors at the workplace. Always keep being passionate about learning even after finishing your degree. I always believe in the quote by Thomas Jefferson as saying, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
Till now, I am maintaining my passion in chemistry, and I plan to continue my career in the analytical method development. In the future, I would like to pursue a part time master’s degree in Analytical and Pharmaceutical Chemistry to further strengthen my analytical chemistry knowledge. Continuous new skills development and lifelong learning are indeed paramount to meet workplace challenges.
In short, I have no regrets pursuing the Pharmaceutical Chemistry programme at IMU. A big thank you to IMU including my friends, mentor and lecturers. I will keep applying what I have learnt from the classroom and extracurricular activities on my future journey.
