Hey r/regulatoryaffairs, I want to thank anyone in advance for reading this post and I appreciate any comments on this manner.
Okay so Im currently 22 I live in Ontario,Canada and I have an Advanced Diploma (Associate’s Degree) in Pharmaceutical Lab Technology. The skills and knowledge I have currently are in MS-Office, Pharmaceutical Calculations, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Chromatography, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Pharmaceutical Analysis, etc. I’ve been trained on how to use Analytical Instruments such as HPLC,GC-FID,GC-MS,FT-IR,UV-Vis Spec, Atomic Absorption Spec all variants, ICP-OES, and Ion Selective Electrode.
As for Courses relating to Biotechnology, Ive learned Introductory Biochemistry such as PCR, TLC, Enzyme-Kinetics, and introductory Microbiology such as Gram Staining, IMVIC, and some Pharmaceutical Microbiology such as Preservative Challenge Testing, Water Testing, Coliform detection, RAPID ID using Latex agglutination and PCR+Blast Lookup of Bacterial DNA.
The reason I want to make the transition is due to interest and Passion for the field of Biotechnology as well as my interest for Modern Medicine and creation of Biologics such as Vaccines, Insulin, Antibiotics (Although they are chemicals, they are produced by Microorganisms), etc. In addition, my government has invested 2.3 billion in this industry due to our pathetic display in a Covid-19 vaccine response. My final reason is because for my end goal career-wise, is to become a Regulatory Affairs Associate as that field is the most optimal for me, as I have good communication and interpersonal skills, decent writing and documentation skills, potential for building strong Leadership and project management skills, and can or will develop strong problem-solving and analytical skills. I want to achieve this end goal by age 30.
So I currently have 2 routes to achieve this goal.
Route A: -Transfer to a University and pursue an Hons Bsc degree in Chemistry for 2.5 years
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Then do a 1 year certification program in Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs and Quality Operations which includes internship.
Route B:
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Transfer to my same college to get another Advanced Diploma (Associates Degree) in Biotechnology for 2 years
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Then Transfer to an Hons Bsc in Biotechnology for an additional 2 years. This includes a mandatory 8 month internship.
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Then do the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs Certification course as mentioned in route A.
Alright so to conclude this long essay, I wanted to hear your thoughts regarding my plans, any comments or constructive criticism is welcome and heavily appreciated. Is Route A better than B because of time, or should Route B be considered due to ties in Biotechnology and Regulatory Affairs. I apologize if this was all over the place, this is my first reddit post and I wanted to get some insight and advice from professionals in this industry. I appreciate your time for reading this lengthy paragraph, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments on this post.
I hope you all have a great day
Best,
A Naive college grad
Source regarding Canada’s investment in Biotechnology: https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2023/10/canada-to-invest-23-million-in-ontario-based-edesa-biotech-inc.html#
