Doctor of Pharmacy graduate and international student overcomes obstacles during a hiring freeze and country-lock down by landing a job as Formation and Analytical Project Manager at Ambio Inc. directly after graduation this year.
Dr. Anand Gupta received his degree from UConn in 2020. “Graduating in April 2020 was a very interesting experience, to say the least. Increasing COVID cases, hiring freezes throughout the industry, rescinded job offers, and shutting down of businesses are some of the immediate challenges that I faced. On top of these roadblocks, my status as an international student added additional constraints, such as a limited time period that I had to find the job.”
Networking is Key
Gupta attributed his ability to secure a job to hard work networking with friends and colleagues. He reached out to people via LinkedIn and supplied strengths, qualifications, and a copy of his CV.
Gupta received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Pharmacy from Savitribai Phule Pune University in Maharashtra, India, and then came to UConn in 2015.
Inspirational Summer Internship
While at UConn Gupta was hired for a summer internship at Anlynam Pharmaceuticals which was a pivotal experience for his career. “I got to witness first-hand commercial drug product launch. This mRNA product was the first-in-class drug to be commercialized anywhere in the world, establishing a novel class of therapeutics. This internship definitely proved to be an exciting and inspiring opportunity for me as a scientist.”
Leadership Activities Added to his Skill Set
In addition to the internship, Gupta explained that his experience as president of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) UConn Student Chapter “helped me to further develop my leadership and management qualities, which I believe are very important for any professional to excel in their careers.”
Advice to Students
When asked what advice he would give to current UConn students who are looking to follow the same career path, Gupta explained that he “took advantage of different learning opportunities via Leadership Boot camp, co-curricular activities, experiential opportunities, networking events, as well as physical and mental health development programs. Each of these resources helped me to develop a more well-rounded personality. My advice to all fellow Huskies would be to utilize these amazing resources that UConn has to offer while you are there! If you follow this advice, when you complete your education at UConn and put yourself in the job market, you will definitely have an edge over many other candidates in the job market.”
Gupta acknowledges that he was “ lucky to be taught by some of the best academics in my field. Most importantly, I had a very supportive mentor that guided me throughout my time studying and learning at UConn, and who helped me grow as a pharmaceutical scientist. My success would not have been possible without the combination of an outstanding university, program, colleagues, and mentors.”
He continues to explain that “as a graduate research assistant at the University of Connecticut, I established a solid foundation of fundamental scientific knowledge that was strengthened by graduate courses such as chemical kinetics, advanced biopharmaceutics, quantum mechanics, and interfacial and colloidal chemistry. At the same time, five years of rigorous lab-based hands-on experience trained me to troubleshoot various scientific problems using empirical techniques. Because of these skills acquired during my time at UConn, I am able to confidently partake in, learn from, and experience every stage of the product development lifecycle in my current workplace. These capabilities help me to enrich my professional abilities, expand my research insights, diversify my skills, and help me further any other key attributes such as interpersonal and management skills.”
By Desirée Martino
