Experts Shared Their Experiences to Further Enhance Students’ Knowledge

University-industry collaboration is essential to ensure the nation’s economy development. From fulfilling business missions to expertise sharing and knowledge transfer, strategic partnerships have been the cornerstone of success for corporations and academia, enabling creativity, growth and innovation that has delivered exceptional results. On 15 June 2017, IMU School of Pharmacy hosted a sharing session by Apex Pharmacy Marketing, in which experts from Apex Pharmacy shared their experiences on latest trends in pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare sector with our Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry students. The points of discussion include the significance of quality control measures in product manufacturing and distribution, use of healthcare products for healthy living, etc. The event featured booth activities and 2 presentations delivered by Apex Healthcare executives. Ang Girl Bee, Assistant General Manager of Apex Pharmacy Marketing who heads the Consumer Healthcare Business and Physical Distribution Business Unit, was the first speaker. She shared her 16 years’ experience in GDP (Good Distribution Practice for Pharmaceuticals) and GDPMD (Good Distribution Practice in Medical Devices, New Product Development and Registration), sales and marketing, strategic management and leadership. Ms Ang has tremendous international pharmaceutical experience which includes new market expansion to Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore and Brunei. Those were milestones that helped her secure millions dollars’ worth of business for the company across 16 years. Ms Ang also provided insight into the diverse roles of pharmacists across various disciplines. She highlighted the importance of aspirant’s attitude in securing a career in pharmaceutical industry. The second speaker was our pharmacy alumnus, Cedric Chua who completed his Bachelor of Pharmacy from IMU-Queensland University credit-transfer programme. He emphasised the value, relevance and consequences of soft skills in University-Work transition, particularly in the areas of Leadership, People management and Networking. He shared his experiences in his success of securing Provisional Registered Pharmacy (PRP) training and career advancement to spearheading E-Commerce Business unit of Apex. The event was ended with booth activities that enhance students’ understanding about quality products.