Medical Affairs Undergarduate Review

At the start I started a narrative literature review and was heavily involved in organising materials and work for conferences and upcoming drug launches, which was exciting and challenging. However, due to a reorganisation of the medical team, my manager had to cover multiple therapy areas and subsequently had such a large work load that he had no time and so could only give me minimal or menial tedious work. This has continued over the year and I have not had the same opportunities that my fellow medical affairs interns have had, presenting posters at international conferences or getting their name on published papers.

I have felt an important part of the cross-functional team and have been able to support marketing initiatives around upcoming launches. I have been responsible for some of our new materials and services that have been essential for the drug launches which has been an exciting prospect. I have also taken part in educating and supporting the team.

My manager/supervisor has not been in the office very frequently and as interns we are expected to come in 5 days a week, so I have not overlapped with him much. He has been supportive when I come to him with an issue, however he has been poor at following up with projects put in place and often requires prompting.

I often had to find my own work to do and reach out to other teams in the Oncology business unit which I have found interesting, however is not the internship that I was hired for. I would have preferred more Medical work and I tried my best to ask for more from my manager but received minimal response or support.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility when it came to reviewing or creating materials to ensure they were compliant; if they weren't checked thoroughly enough we could have had a code breach. I was also given soul responsibility for creating some marketing/promotional material which was both enjoyable and necessary for the launch.

I have learnt a lot about the realities of working in the corporate world, ,from how to interact and behave in an office environment with your colleagues to gaining a realistic insight into big pharma. I also think that time management skills and gaining a better understanding of how to read and critically analyse clinical papers will be useful when it come to returning to uni.

It's a very friendly relaxed atmosphere in the office, however plenty of spaces for more formal meeting requirements. The 'just do you' dress code I am a fan of. There is a large intake of year in industry interns so there are lots of other students around to socialise with at lunch time etc.

I think the whole internship was organised efficiently and I had few issues with on-boarding or learning my way around. I think there could have been a more specific hand over meeting/document for my role specifically so that i could hit the ground running when I first arrived in september

My manager asked me what I wanted to gain out of the year if there was anything specific and I was able to have a go at each of them. I reviewed and critically analysed papers and wrote a literary review and managed to o a number of different presentations, from those to new undergraduate students to the UK Oncology leadership team with our 2020 Operating Plan.

Future employment is not overly appealing to me because the graduate scheme is specifically 'sales and marketing' which is not what my internship has been this year (medical affairs) and not what I want to do after i graduate. I believe that it is a great organisation to work for and if, in the future, I wanted to come back and work in pharma Pfizer would definitely appeal to me.

Yes. There was a lovely group of interns in Oncology and across the Walton-Oaks office. Many interns also moved into the local area so we were able to get together and do stuff outside of work. We also went out and did team dinners/events within the medical team which were enjoyable to feel part of the team on a social level.

Surrey, and the area generally, is quite expensive as it is so close to London and easy to commute in so I found the rent prices were higher than I am used to. I didn't however struggle to get through financially based on the salary Pfizer paid us. They also provide a free bus from Epsom where I live so getting to work was effectively free for me.

It was fine. It is easy for me to get into London and see friends midweek if I really wanted to. Epsom has a few nice pubs/bars/restaurants and a Fever and Boutique nightclub which is good fun. The office is a bit isolated so there was little post-work nightlife close to the office.

We were given the opportunities to be trained as a STEM ambassador when you go into schools and educate the children on a potential career in science and pharmaceuticals specifically which I really enjoyed. We also had 5 paid days of volunteering where we could go on STEM days or other volunteering activities. We also had the opportunity to join the HBA (Healthcare Businesswoman Association) and support them with their events.