Clinical Pharmacology students join Boyds Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Operations team on placement

In May, we welcomed students Aya Sadouki and Alicja Skorupinska to Boyds to complete their six-week placement, supporting the Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Operations teams. 

Both Aya and Alicja are second-year Clinical Pharmacology BSc students at St George’s University of London. On the course they study a blend of core clinical and fundamental sciences, covering topics such as pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of drugs, fundamentals of science, how drugs are used in healthcare, clinical trials and drug development.

Whilst at Boyds, Aya has been shadowing the regulatory team and providing support to a range of projects including investigational new drug applications, orphan drug designation applications and paediatric investigation plan information collation on previous clinical studies.

Commenting on her time at Boyds, Aya said “I came into this placement with an open mind and positive attitude, 4 weeks on, I am really glad I did. This mindset allowed me to speak to as many colleagues as possible and internalise advice given, it also aided me in accepting any tasks and challenges that were pointed in my direction. 

I was predominately involved with shadowing and supporting the regulatory affairs team. This was an area of drug development that I had very limited knowledge in. I now have a strong interest in the regulatory process involved for drugs reaching the bedside of patients.” 

Alicja joined the Clinical Operations team on placement and has taken on a number of tasks to support the team. This has included a GCP refresher, consultants and subcontractors log update and monitoring tracker update.

Alicja said, “Listening to the career story of Boyds’ directors was very inspirational and certainly one of the highlights of the placement. It opened my mind to some professional prospects I did not consider beforehand and provided a better understanding of the requirements for some specific roles.”

Upon completion of her education in Clinical Pharmacology, Alicja hopes to develop her knowledge in the clinical trials area by training to become a CRA and then developing into a project manager role.

Commenting on her own career aspirations, Aya explained “Although I am unsure about my specific career aspirations, I am aware that whatever I do I’d like to make an impact, be part of something big. 

One area that has been of interest to me is the possibility of taking the knowledge gained in my degree into the domain of Global health, understanding the disparity of pharmacological aid in different parts of the world and aiming to improve these resources. 

I also have a great interest in writing, after a few insightful discussions with colleagues at Boyds, I am now considering pursuing medical writing in further education.”