MS IN REGULATORY SCIENCE PROGRAM CELEBRATES CLASS OF 2017

Written By: James Polli, PhD, the Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair in Industrial Pharmacy and Pharmaceutics

Program administrators and course managers for the MS in Regulatory Science program at the School of Pharmacy were thrilled to celebrate the recent graduation of the 33 working professionals of the program’s Class of 2017. Although the program is hosted exclusively online, nearly all of the graduating students – including a student from Canada – traveled to Baltimore to attend the in-person convocation celebration held in Pharmacy Hall on May 18.

A Time for Celebration

Graduating student Lorena Gapasin, MSc, clinical research compliance manager for Johns Hopkins Medicine, provided a message on behalf of the Class of 2017. “The long hours spent working on team and individual projects, homework, and watching online lectures, combined with perseverance and the willpower to reach this milestone, now imbue me with a sense of fulfilment, pride, and satisfaction. It was all worth it,” she said.

Two graduating students were presented with Awards for Outstanding Performance in Regulatory Science during the ceremony: Carol Rehkopf, MSc, chief for the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) Review Management in Business Operations Staff at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Madhavi Yadavalli, MSc, pharmacovigilance scientist at AstraZeneca. Support for the awards was provided by GlaxoSmithKline.

Edward Rudnic, PhD, chief executive officer for DisperSol Technologies, also offered his thoughts and words of advice to the class. He spoke about how the discovery and development of new medicines, and their rigorous assessment, is a great human endeavor, and expressed how fortunate he feels to have been able to bring new medications to patients through his work with his many talented colleagues.

Students who enroll in the MS in Regulatory Science program typically have eight years of experience in drug and biologics development or regulatory assessment, but as the director of the program, I continue to be amazed at how important completing this degree program is to these working professionals and their families. Convocation is a truly special event for our students, and it was a joy to be able to celebrate with them this year.

View Photos from the Event

To view photos from the event, please visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/17218350@N08/albums/72157681173118554.