September marked a significant event in the Uptake Strategies’ calendar as we ran our first Pharma and Biotech Academy, at our offices in Ascot. We hosted a group of talented undergraduates, masters and PhD students from Oxford, Reading and Birmingham universities, along with guest speakers from GSK, Sanofi and Pfizer. We were truly impressed with the level of enthusiasm, knowledge, and engagement from our participants as well as the insightful and challenging thinking demonstrated throughout the academy.
The four-day masterclass covered a wide range of aspects of the pharma and biotech industry including: R&D processes, therapy areas, industry trends, key pharma / biotech customers, pharmaceutical strategy and planning, and use of multi-channel marketing. We discussed a broad range of ideas and explored the opportunities that await graduates looking to delve into the world of pharma and biotech. Throughout the intensive four days, our participants undertook various tasks that involved real-world data and drew on pharmaceutical and MBA case-studies to bring to life the many exciting aspects of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
Uptake Strategies is proud to be a woman-owned and woman-led business, within an industry at the forefront of women in leadership roles. We were impressed with the number of applications from female graduates who showed an interest in exploring a career in pharma and / or biotech. Although our sector is currently amongst the most gender-balanced industries, there is still a gender-gap at senior board level, which is why we hope to inspire our graduates with the confidence to not only pursue a career in the industry but also develop skills that will help them progress into senior roles.
This year’s launch of our Pharma and Biotech Academy begins our mission to support 1000 graduates over the next 10 years; we truly hope this programme has given this year’s participants a foundation to explore the pharma and biotech industry and the many, varied paths they are able to pursue. We look forward to seeing some of our aspiring pharma and biotech innovators become future leaders of the industry that we are so proud to work in, and we hope that the academy continues to see such a high calibre of graduates next year and beyond.
