Summer Internship Series: Kamali, Kinshuk and Bryce

It's Friday!!!! Kamali Thompson, Kinshuk Saxena and Bryce Kanter are talking about their internship experiences today...

Kamali is a dual MBA/MD student at Rutgers Business School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School...

"This summer I am fortunate to work in one of my favorite places, New York City. Having explored many areas of the city, I am now able to familiarize myself with Hell’s Kitchen, the location of the Medscape office. At Medscape, a subsidiary of WebMD, I am interning with the Project Coordination team. 

One of Medscape’s main features is CME (Continuing Medical Education), a requirement for healthcare professionals to ensure they are learning about developing areas in their field. I have been given several responsibilities to complete for the duration of my internship. My purpose on the project coordination team is to manage the CME activities and ensure everything is in order for the project to move from one step to another. During my 5^th week in the internship, I began a retrospective study in collaboration with the product management team. In the study, I am examining correlations between the activities Medscape offers and preference of these activities among specific age groups of physician completers to help Medscape increase efficiency in teaching.

Working at Medscape has been the perfect opportunity to combine my medical and business backgrounds. In the rare moments I have downtime, I watch Medscape lectures to recollect information I learned in medical school. Every Wednesday, the interns have a lunch & learn with one of the leaders of WebMD or Medscape to gain a better understanding of each department’s role. The best part of the lunch & learn is going to the downtown WebMD office, which is in the same building as Nike and Google!

After the completion of my internship, I have the pleasure of attending 3 weddings and a music festival almost every weekend! In the meantime, if anyone wants to visit a rooftop lounge after work in NYC you know who to call!"

Kinshuk is spending his summer in East Hanover, NJ...

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words and perhaps this one says it all. I feel privileged to be interning for a company with a true passion for transforming people’s lives. With over $47B in global revenue, Novartis is the world’s largest pharma major. I am currently interning at the company’s US Headquarters in East Hanover, NJ.

One of my projects have been centered around strategizing a model for selection of multi-media production agencies that would help us carry out product launches for key novel brands at Novartis. This involves interacting with supplier partners, evaluating their pitch and finally awarding the business to a select few based on a predefined set of holistic criterion. This role excites me because it requires a delicate balance of analytical skills, relationship development and of course consensus building. My other project is to create alignment around the competencies of more than 200 marketing vendors within the Market Access, Insights and Analytics category with a total spend of over $200 M.

Outside of work, I had a chance to volunteer for a walk in support of Cystic Fibrosis research (see pic below). The fundraiser helped collect around a million dollars in funds for research to seek a more effective cure for Cystic Fibrosis, a disease which affects thousands of patients worldwide. In addition, we recently toured a cutting edge manufacturing facility for CTL019, a drug that promises to cure Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, ALL, a type of cancer (top pic). In a nutshell, my second stint with Novartis has been a deeply gratifying and enriching experience."

Bryce is studying Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management at RBS, while simultaneously earning his MS in Biomedical Sciences at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School...

"This summer I am interning with the US Neurology Brand Team at Bayer HealthCare in Whippany, NJ. The main project I’m working on is to strengthen the claims and layout of the website for Bayer’s multiple sclerosis medication, Betaseron.  I have also been assisting with the vendor transition for Betaseron’s nursing support service, ensuring all previous business practices are maintained and improved where possible during the migration from old to new vendor.

So far it has been a great summer. Below is a list of my top 10 summer internship highlights:

1. Seeing firsthand how a pharmaceutical marketing team functions and makes decisions

 

2. Networking: I met a couple people who have given me meaningful advice as I move forward in my career

3. Working on a project where in a couple months I will be able to log onto the website for Betaseron and see changes that were the result of my recommendations

4.  Opportunity to go on a ride-a-long in the field

5. Playing basketball every Tuesday after work

6. Discounted Starbucks coffee shop on the first floor

7. Eating at the Bayer café twice a day for breakfast and lunch: they got everything from fresh fruit, baked goods, and made-to-order omelets in the morning to make-your-own sandwiches and Mongolian grill for lunch

8. All you can eat Flintstones vitamins

9. Receiving a paycheck every two weeks: It is nice to purchase a beer after work with real money, not my student loan

10. No School/Homework/Papers/Tests: Freak that stuff"

Thanks Kamali, Kinshuk and Bryce for contributing! Tune in next week for more updates!