Quality Control Intern

This was my first ever internship. I remember driving to Redwood City and walking into the beautiful office overlooking the bay on my first day feeling nervous but excited. The nerves died out throughout the day as I had lunch with my manager and began setting up my work email and calendar.

Since pharmaceuticals is a FDA regulated company, I had many trainings and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to read through. These were all things I never would have considered if I did not gain experience in the industry.

After completing my trainings (finally), I got started on the main bulk of my work:

• Entering data on the stability of clinical and commercial drug product in iStability Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

• Analyzing the stability trends and looking for inconsistencies.

• Assembled documentation binders for historical batch records.

• Learned good manufacturing practices in the biopharmaceutical industry.

While analyzing the stability trends, I noticed some inconsistencies that did not make sense, where the life of the drug product seemed to increase over time. This was a pressing problem, so I created a PowerPoint presentation filled with data tables and charts to prove the issue, and presented this to the department heads. The presentation was then shared with partners to show the trends and open an investigation for potential root causes.

I was also able to take part in many useful and fun intern events and off-sites. From weekly TED talks, to presentations by various departments around the company, to kayaking with my fellow interns, to beer yoga on a ranch in Half Moon Bay, I enjoyed every single second.

The weekly free lunches, breakfasts, and snacks were definitely a plus, but people I met and experience I gained working in the industry were what made my first internship successful. I can confidently say that this experience shaped my career goals, and I learned countless skills from my coworkers and others I met along the way.