We organised a trip for students from Biomedical Science and Biological Sciences to Roche Diagnostics at Burgess Hill who wish to gain insight into working for a pharmaceutical company. There were 20 places on offer, and following application all places were filled readily. We were very grateful to Prof Rameen Shakur for getting us in contact with Roche Diagnostics, and the academics Dr Louise Mackenzie, Dr Nadia Terrazzini, Dr Richard Akele and postgraduate researcher Dr Juned Kadiwala accompanied the group on a coach trip to the site.

There was a series of short talks/presentations from key departments in the company to give us understanding of the diverse roles that exist within the pharmaceutical/med-tech industry. These included Medical Affairs, Market Access/HECON, Public Affairs, Business development and Clinical marketing. They focussed on the new diagnostic tools they have developed and taken to market to diagnose women with pre-eclampsia at an early stage.  More details on this can be found here: Elecsys® sFlt-1/PlGF (Preeclampsia) (roche.com). It was really interesting to see their focus on women’s health and development of tools that will help the future health of mothers. They made us feel really welcome, providing us with refreshments and lunch, followed by a tour of the labs and the equipment. Of great interest was the discovery of the graduate scheme, and a clear career path for those wishing to join the company: Graduates’ Programmes (roche.com)