RIYADH – MSD Saudi Arabia launched a summer training program to support the development of Saudi pharmacists as part of its ongoing commitment to the local community and to the continuous education of medical professionals.
The program, launched in collaboration with the King Saud University, will run for three weeks providing future generations of pharmacists with an opportunity to understand pharmaceutical marketing and sales from an industry point of view. The program will provide students with the number of hours required for pharmacists to complete the academic portion of their training curriculum.
Talking about their decision to launch this program, Managing Director of MSD Saudi Arabia, Pharmacist, Wail Al-Qasim, said “at MSD we are committed to the development of future generations in Saudi Arabian and believe that supporting the growth of Saudi pharmacists is very crucial. Pharmacists play an important role in the society, not just supporting patients at local pharmacies, but also in hospitals and hospital pharmacies, purchasing departments, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies, government authorities like the Ministry of Health and FDA and even in the academic and research community. At MSD, we believe in nurturing the vast talent pool of pharmacists by providing our industry expertise to these individuals, ensuring they have a greater understanding of the opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry and providing Saudi pharmacists to expand their horizons.”
Dr. Hisham Aljadhey, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of Medication Safety Research Chair for the College of Pharmacy at the King Saud University, said “summer training programs by pharmaceutical companies, such as this one, are important for students to acquire knowledge and skills that will help them in their future career. This transfer of knowledge is important if the pharmaceutical community is to grow and improve. I would like to personally thank pharmaceutical companies in Saudi Arabia that continue to support the development of pharmaceutical students.”
The summer program will be conducted by MSD experts in the pharmaceutical industry who will train students in different topics including regulatory affairs, medical affairs, market access, government relations and customer service, in addition to focusing on key disease areas that affect Saudi Arabian community, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The launch of the summer program is just the latest in a long line of initiatives that the MSD Saudi office has undertaken to support the development of Saudi pharmacists. Since 2001, MSD has committed to numerous programs, including most recently, the sponsorship of the graduation ceremony of King Abdul Aziz University’s class of 2013 pharmacists, the largest graduation of pharmacists in Jeddah to date. — SG
