Manager, Drug and Alcohol Policy at Department of Health, Victoria
Master of Clinical Pharmacy (2013-2015)
Mel Kowalski works in alcohol and drug policy at the Department of Health. While she no longer works directly in clinical pharmacy, she says her postgraduate study at Monash equipped her with valuable skills for her current role.
The core of her work is managing a team that develops a range of alcohol and other drug priorities as part of public health policy. The policies and projects are designed to improve outcomes for Victorian communities, around substance use or addiction issues.
For Mel, postgraduate study at Monash and research work led into project management work, and a shift in her career away from hospitals, clinical pharmacy and individual patient care and towards working on improving systems and structures. The variety in her career has been useful; having seen all the different pieces of the health system working and where they fit helps her make practical and strategic recommendations in response to identified risks, emerging issues and changes in demand for drug and alcohol services.
Regional Clinical Pharmacist Lead - Victoria at Mederev
Bachelor of Pharmacy/Commerce (Hons)
Alexander Wong is Victoria’s Clinical Pharmacist Lead for Mederev, a consulting pharmacy firm that specialises in medication safety in aged care. His work covers everything from providing medication reviews for individual aged care residents, to advising on policy and legislation, to educating around the quality use of medications.
Aged care providers draw on his expertise around medication management. His typical work week might include clinical days doing medication reviews, looking at the interactions of different drugs a patient is taking in consultation with their doctor. On other days, he’ll be working with an aged care provider to develop state or nationwide policies and procedures.
His clinical pharmacy experience in hospitals included time working in geriatric care, which is a challenging area for pharmacists due to the complex interactions between multiple medications and health conditions. Alexander was drawn to his current role after seeing the repeat admissions of patients from aged care facilities. He realised that the aged care sector needed a specialised clinical pharmacy service and joined the recently-founded Mederev, who were doing just that.
Strategy Manager, Healthcare and Life Sciences at KPMG UK
Graduate Certificate in Pharmacy Practice (Pharmaceutical Economics & Economic Evaluation in Healthcare)
Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours)
Qualifications in Pharmacy from Monash have led Anh Go to a career in consulting. She now works as part of a multidisciplinary team helping large pharmaceutical and healthcare clients tackle strategic problems such as long term growth, what new products to develop, or how to develop a best practice approach to a particular disease.
Anh previously worked in a Melbourne hospital, but she wanted to find a way to use her problem-solving skills to have a more wide-reaching impact. She made the shift into a healthcare consulting role, which ultimately opened up the opportunity to live and work in London, where she is now based. One of her big achievements there has been helping set up the Nightingale Hospital as part of the COVID-19 response.
Her typical day depends on the project she’s working on, but will usually involve speaking to experts in the field, sharing good initiatives and practices from around the world with her clients or working with her team to solve the challenges a client is facing.
Senior Clinical Program Officer at NPS MedicineWise, Melbourne, VIC
Masters of Clinical Pharmacy (2017–2019)
Graduate Diploma in Pharmacy Practice (2015–2016)
Bachelor of Pharmacy (2011–2015)
The diverse skills developed from Pharmacy help Monash alumnus James White every day. He works for NPS MedicineWise, is an independent not-for-profit tasked with promoting and supporting the quality use of medicines. As a Senior Clinical Program Officer, James works across multiple projects as a subject matter expert.
James is Clinical Lead for the Value in Prescribing Immunoglobulin Program and the Opioid Program. His typical day involves lots of conversations with experts and stakeholders, reviewing programs from a clinical point of view to ensure they will deliver good outcomes for health consumers. Key to his role is distilling opinions, building consensus and getting everyone aligned and working towards the same goals, a process that’s both challenging and rewarding. As someone who loves diving in and learning everything about a subject, James enjoys being in a role where his knowledge and expertise are valued.
While his current role is very different to his previous experiences as a hospital Clinical Pharmacist, James still draws on his Monash education every day. His skills in evidence based medicine practice and critical appraisal have given him an extra edge in his career, allowing him to break down a situation and understand the underlying issues.
Editor, Therapeutic Guidelines, Melbourne, VIC
Bachelor of Pharmacy (2005–2008)
Hazel Moore works as an editor at Therapeutic Guidelines, a source of primary care advice and information for medical and healthcare workers. Her role involves coordinating updates to the guidelines. She engages with expert groups of specialists and primary care practitioners, turning the information they provide into draft updates and managing the process of finalising the new content. She writes and edits this to provide clear and concise information that gets the right messages across.
In her role, Hazel is often reminded of what she loved most when she studied at Monash. She has a fascination with human biology and how drugs and the body interact, right down at a molecular level and has great memories of the hands-on, lab-based parts of her Bachelor of Pharmacy course.
For anyone keen to pursue a role like hers, Hazel’s advice is to be passionate about your interests; build your project management skills; and read widely to develop your English language and grammar skills.
Medical Science Liaison - Rare Diseases at Pfizer, Melbourne, VIC
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Pharmaceutics and Drug Design (2012-2016)
Former pharmacist Matthew Crum now works for a pharmaceutical company as a Medical Science Liaison. His role involves communicating new innovations in medical science to healthcare professionals, and feeding insights from those discussions back into the business to make sure the company is offering the best value to both healthcare professionals and patients. He loves being able to utilise his background in healthcare science within a business context, establishing and maintaining peer to peer relationships with key opinion leaders within healthcare.
Matthew considered various universities for his PhD study, but it was a direct response and ongoing encouragement from now MIPS Director Professor Chris Porter that set him on the path from the UK to Melbourne.
During his PhD, he got to see first-hand how all the different research groups, themes and departments have an international presence. It's a small campus compared to his UK experience, but the research output and scientific knowledge it puts back into the community impressed him immensely.
Drug Discovery Scientist I at Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry (2015-2019)
Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science (Honours) (2009–2013)
Lisa Barbaro works as a drug discovery scientist. Her main research project is developing novel small molecule activators that could assist with treating depression, memory disorders, pain and migraine.
It’s very exciting to be a part of a developing area of research, where her skills and hard work may one day lead to a drug that really impacts and transforms the lives of patients suffering from these conditions.
She likes that her role blends elements of academic basic research with drug discovery capabilities. She enjoys being hands-on in the lab with the freedom to be creative and pursue many different ideas.
Lead Pharmacist - Mental Health and Addiction Services at Alfred Health
Master of Clinical Pharmacy (2016–2019)
Graduate Certificate in Pharmacy Practice (2015)
Viandro Borja is responsible for the development and delivery of clinical pharmacy services for a mental health and addiction program. He oversees and manages a designated clinical pharmacy team and fosters integration across different mental health clinical areas.
He enjoys the day-to-day variety in his current role. It encompasses leadership and management, advanced clinical pharmacy practice, research as well as the education and development of other practitioners.
Providing a high-quality clinical pharmacy service within mental health is one of the most rewarding and satisfying aspects of his work. Working in mental health settings can be very challenging but it is rewarding to come to work and be able to make a positive difference or be a positive force in the lives of others.