A boost in career and in life – Rodica’s Story

Rodica Rosu – PGDip in Pharmaceutical Business & Technology Graduate

My name is Rodica Rosu, and I am originally from Republic of Moldova. I work as a Clinical Trial Project Manager at Eli Lily, a pharmaceutical company in Cork and also a part-time lecturer for Clinical Research module at Innopharma Education.

Since I was a child, I’ve wanted to help people, and therefore I chose the path to becoming a doctor. I graduated Medical School, and I worked as a Dermatologist for few years in the Republic of Moldova. In 2012, my family and I decided to move to Ireland, where a new chapter of my life and career started. At that time, after the global financial crisis, it was very difficult to find a job in Ireland however I was lucky to find a job in a meat processing company.

You may ask yourself, why in the food industry? Unfortunately, due to the fact that Moldova is a non-EU country, I could not practice medicine in Ireland straightway. It would have required a lot of time and significant financial investment, which I could not afford at that time.

At first, I started as a general line operator packing meat. Shortly after I was promoted to quality controller. After 6 months I got an opportunity to work in the logistics department. Being passionate and committed to my work, I successfully got a position in Supply Chain in the same meat factory. During all that time, I was thinking: ‘What options are available for me to reskill? So I could use all my medical knowledge to help people’. In 2019, during a Job Expo in Cork, I came across the Innopharma Education stand, where I was very pleased to find out that Innopharma Education could help me to reskill myself using my medical degree. As a result of my very positive interaction with the team and the multiple courses available that I could pursue, I decided to study the PG Dip in Pharmaceutical Business & Technology, which subsequently contributed to the important shift of my career to pharmaceutical industry.

I completed two courses with Innopharma Education: Higher Diploma in Science (Bio) Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices Manufacturing with First Class Honour and PG Dip in Pharmaceutical Business and Technology with Distinction.

Why did I choose Innopharma Education? One of the multiple advantages is that their courses are uniquely designed to accommodate to the people’s lives. At that time, I was working full time and my son was only 1 year and a half. The courses were part-time, blended with online lectures, which gave me the flexibility to continue my full-time work and fulfil my other responsibilities. The courses were Springboard funded+ which was another great advantage from the financial perspective. The modules were delivered by lecturers with vast experience in the pharmaceutical sector. The content of the courses was relevant and up to date to the industry requirements. Another great benefit was the career development module, which was part of the courses. I received a lot of guidance from professional coaches for my CV writing, developing my professional network and interview preparation. After I successfully completed the Higher Diploma, I got a job in one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

The Innopharma Education team is very helpful and friendly and I really enjoyed studying with them.