When Anjali Patel enrolled in the UTS Master of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), she had a specific goal in mind.
“I wanted get my hands dirty in the industry — I wanted to be working in a company where they produce pharmaceutical products,” says Anjali, who secured a paying role with iNova Pharmaceuticals as a result of her UTS degree.
“[A GMP degree] was the best way [for me to do that].”
A one-of-a-kind GMP degree
GMP is about the processes and procedures that underpin the production and quality control of pharmaceutical products. UTS is home to the only Master of Good Manufacturing Practice in the Asia Pacific region.
The degree has a strong focus on both pharmaceutical regulation and quality assurance, preparing students for a vast range of careers in the pharma, biotech and medical device industries, to name a few.
For Anjali, the regulatory course content was of particular interest because it taught her to understand the global pharmaceutical market.
“I studied how the US Food and Drug Administration [regulations] work, how the European regulator works, how the Australian regulator works,” she says.
“With globalisation, your products can go anywhere in the world.”
She was also struck by the way the course encouraged students to develop their critical and analytical thinking, rather than focus on rote learning.
“The course was more about how you can practically use your knowledge rather than reading things and [copying them down] on the paper,” she says.
“That was very important to me.”
Where theory and practice meet
But it was a subject called Industry Research Project that really laid the foundations for Anjali’s pharmaceutical industry career. In this subject, students are placed with a UTS industry partner to complete a research project.
For Anjali, that partner was iNova Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company with offices in Sydney. Here, she found herself gaining real-world quality assurance experience that was directly related to her future career.
Her industry project experience was such a success that iNova Pharmaceuticals immediately offered her a job as a quality assurance assistant, even while she continued her studies at UTS.
Over the next four years, she was quickly promoted to quality assurance administrator and associate roles and then to a project manager position. To her surprise, she realised she’d found her niche.
“I never knew I’d love doing project management, [but] I was launching new products in the Australian and New Zealand markets,” Anjali says.
The industry stamp of approval
In 2023, a recruiter for specialist animal health company Virbac reached out, looking for someone to fill a project and portfolio manager role. Her GMP degree, combined with her years of experience at iNova, made Anjali the ideal candidate for the job.
Now, rather than leading a single project at a time, she provides strategic oversight of a suite of product development initiatives.
“They saw that I did the UTS GMP course, and it was really impressive for them,” she says.
“All the projects have a lot of complexity around manufacturing. I’ll be [overseeing] 20 projects and I can see things that are common between [them] because I have that GMP [experience.]”
She’s only a few weeks into her new role, but Anjali can already see immense potential for career progression.
“I want to be in a leadership role where I can bring significant impact to the company,” she says.
“That’s where I see myself [in future] — leading a team to achieve something.”
And, if her career so far is any indication, Anjali Patel won’t be waiting long.