‘Being a pharmacist means having a world of opportunity,’ says IPG alum

We connected with Reena Mahbubani, IPG graduate (2013), to find out where her career has taken her and to reflect on her learnings from the IPG Program. Currently, Reena is Medical Advisor GLP-1 Diabetes S.C. at Novo Nordisk Canada Inc.

In 2016 she won the Clinical, Medical and Regulatory Novo Nordisk Nobel Prize for “demonstrating essentials including providing innovation to the benefit of stakeholders, focusing on personal performance and development, and never compromising on quality and business ethics.”

Looking back, what was the most important learning you took from the IPG program?

The most important learning I took from the IPG program was the ability to take the theory learned throughout pharmacy school and apply it to Canadian practice.

If you were to go back and take the IPG program again, would you do anything different?

Looking back on the IPG program, I would have studied for the PEBC examinations alongside the IPG program and formed study groups within the program to help me succeed within the program and during completion of my examinations.

Can you highlight the work you did to achieve the 2016 Clinical, Medical and Regulatory Novo Nordisk Nobel Prize ? How did your experience in the IPG program contribute to this?

I joined Novo Nordisk in 2015 as a Medical Affairs Project manager shortly after the launch of Saxenda^® (liraglutide 3.0mg), a medication indicated for chronic weight management in adults.  I had the pleasure of working on this team for the first year of my career at Novo Nordisk.

During this year, I worked with many key opinion leaders in obesity throughout Canada and worked on innovative initiatives to help educate other physicians on obesity being a chronic disease, and on the treatment options that are available to them.  Throughout the year I pushed myself, with the support of my manager and mentor at the time, to learn an entirely different field that I was newly introduced to - the pharmaceutical industry, and the area of chronic weight management.  I worked diligently to develop myself as a healthcare professional in my new career in the pharmaceutical industry and am now the Medical Advisor for GLP-1 diabetes S.C. [liraglutide (Victoza^®) &  semaglutide QW (Ozempic^®)].

Being in the IPG program taught me that completing a pharmacist degree doesn’t limit your options to only working in a pharmacy.  It taught me that being a pharmacist means having a world of opportunity.  While I was in the IPG program, I was completing my studentship in retail pharmacy.  Following this I moved on to long-term-care and completed an internship as a long-term-care pharmacist.  After I completed my internship, I was offered a job as a consultant pharmacist.  After this, I chose to explore the pharmaceutical industry.  IPG has taught me to look at healthcare from many different angles and taught me how to apply my knowledge and skills at each of those angles. This in turn allowed me to explore many different opportunities in the healthcare field.

What do you love most about being a pharmacist?

I’m able to appreciate, understand, and apply a multidisciplinary approach to patient care, and this is what I love most about being a pharmacist.  I love working with other healthcare professionals on the common goal of patient-centred care.

What advice would you give to recent IPG grads?

Do not limit yourself…if you can dream it, you can do it.  Explore every opportunity presented to you and seize each and every learning opportunity that you get.

We’d love to hear from you and discover where your career has taken you? Contact us at alumni.pharmacy@utoronto.cato share your news and updates