Learning Lunches go digital to explore careers in the pharmaceutical industry

Despite Lockdown III, St Mary's Sixth Form girls are still taking every opportunity to connect with extra-curricular learning opportunities.

Learning Lunches, girls usually meet guest speakers in-person for an informal and informative lunchtime discussion. Past talks have explored careers in medicine, law, business and more, all through the shared experiences of women who are working at the forefront of their field.

With Sixth Form currently closed, our Learning Lunches have made the leap to digital. This week, we were delighted to share a lunchtime Zoom with Jules Kovacevic, a St Mary's alumna currently living and working in Serbia.

Jules works as a Medical Writer for Ergomed, a global company focused on clinical development, trial management and pharmacovigilance for over 200 different clients, including the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies. With the race to develop Covid-19 vaccines so topical at present, Jules provided girls with a very interesting 'behind-the-scenes' insight into the complexities involved in bringing safe medicines to market. 

The inspiring talk opened up a completely new area of consideration for many students, particularly those currently studying STEM subjects at A Level, and girls were surprised to hear of the diverse range of roles within the field.

Jules highlighted how she has worked directly on a treatment that has been used in the fight against Covid-19, and also explained how Ergomed often design medicines for rare disorders. This brought home the very real-world impact that can be achieved through a career in this sector. It was clear that Jules finds her work very rewarding.

It was also interesting to hear that Jules remains in touch with many of the friends she gained during her time at St Mary’s - something we often hear from past students!

Ruth Taylor, Head of Sixth Form reflects: "We have been encouraging our St Mary's community to look for silver linings to the current UK lockdown and we have definitely added digital Learning Lunches to our list! The opportunity to connect with St Mary's alumna working all around the world provides even greater scope to inspire all our students, as they consider their next steps beyond Sixth Form."

Beyond Sixth Form

St Mary's Alumnae