Previous PDP profiles
Melvin, Information
Technology Professional Development Program
What excited you about Abbott's Information Technology Professional
Development Program?
I was excited to hear that Abbott had an IT Professional Development Program
that would allow me to gain exposure to the company's various businesses, and
the broad variety of technology that supports those businesses. It was
appealing to know that I would have the opportunity to take on challenges in
roles including application development, business system analysis, and other
areas of interest. Being a recent college graduate, I am certain that the IT
PDP is exactly what I need to initiate my IT career and get the
hands-on-experience to be successful within IT at Abbott.
Describe a project or role you have held during your rotations so far.
During my first rotation, I worked as a programmer in Abbott's
Pharmaceutical Products Division. While in this rotation I had the opportunity
to work as the lead on a challenging project for its entire duration. This
project was to develop a dynamic reporting tool to be utilized for the analysis
of Abbott's products for large customers. This tool improved Abbott's ability
to track the performance of an important market – providing a great benefit to
the organization. This project allowed me to utilize my technical expertise to
provide business value; as a result I received an achievement award for my
work.
How do you think Abbott's IT Professional Development Program will help you
accomplish your long-range career goals?
My career goal is to work as a technical IT manager supporting manufacturing
or international operations. The IT Professional Development Program will
assist me in accomplishing this because it provides me with the tools and
resources to further develop my leadership, technical and interpersonal skills.
In addition, the IT PDP will help me to reach this goal by offering me a
variety of experiences working on different types of projects, in different
places. For instance, I will be traveling to the United Kingdom for my next
rotation, working as a Business System Analyst supporting international
operations. I am very excited to be a part of a program that provides me with
these diverse and challenging opportunities.
Meet Our PDPs – Stacie,
Physician Professional Development Program
What excited you about Abbott's Physician Professional Development
Program?
The most appealing aspect was the opportunity to learn about various roles
of a physician within the pharmaceutical industry. I was excited about gaining
a strong knowledge base in pharmacokinetics, pharmacovigilance, and drug
development while learning more about the various functional areas at Abbott. I
feel that this program gives me a wonderful opportunity to develop a core
knowledge that will be widely applicable to pharmaceutical medicine, while
gaining broad exposure to the overall process of drug development.
Describe a project or role you have held during your rotations so far.
My first rotation was in pharmacovigilance. I was involved in monitoring
adverse events during clinical trials and once a drug is approved and available
on the market, and reporting this data to regulatory agencies. I gained
first-hand experience in evaluating potential adverse drug reactions and
applying regulatory guidances applicable to pharmacovigilance. During this
rotation, I was also exposed to various approaches of assessing risks of
medications and formulating approaches to minimize this risk. As drug safety is
an important component of the overall process of drug development, the
knowledge gained during this rotation will have broad implications in my future
rotations and the area in which I choose to pursue my long-range career
goals.
How do you think Abbott's Professional Development Program will help you
accomplish your long-range career goals?
My long-term career goal would be to apply my clinical and scientific skills
in an intellectually stimulating, team environment to bring new medications to
patients and improve their medical care. Thus far, my expectations of
developing a strong basic skill set in pharmaceutical medicine have been
confirmed as I participate every day in the nuances of these core areas. One
thing that was appealing to me about working in the pharmaceutical industry is
that I enjoy working as part of a team, especially when it involves bringing a
team of experts together for a common goal. The physician PDP has core
discussions to develop skills that are important in optimizing team
interactions, leadership skills, and business understanding that are not part
of traditional medical training. Being within the PDP has opened doors to a
wide range of experts in such diverse departments as statistics and toxicology,
and has allowed me to gain broad insight into the complexity of drug
development. As I am challenged in my career beyond the PDP, I look forward to
applying these unique experiences to develop innovative approaches for patients
in a team environment.
Ka Man—Abbott Global
Talent Acquisition
What excited you about Abbott's HR Professional Development Program?
I had worked in the financial industry before and I didn't feel like our
projects were really helping people. In the health care industry I know someone
out there will benefit from what the company does. As global talent acquisition
professionals, if we hire top talent scientists they will create better drugs,
which will improve patients' lives. So, even though I'm not a scientist, I feel
like I can help patients indirectly.
Describe a project that you've worked on during your rotation?
During my first rotation I worked on developing the Global Talent
Acquisition Web site. I had the opportunity to work on the project from the
beginning to the end. Our goal was to provide resources and information to
affiliates in other countries. In China for example, we needed more resources
on how to interview people and how to build up an internship program. There are
also some other countries where they have some best practices to share so we
can also learn from them. We finished the website in four months and I feel
great because I can see the final product. I was even given an Achievement
Award for the work I did on the Global Talent Acquisition Website. I'm very
appreciative because it proves my efforts and I've only been here a few
months.
How do you think the Abbott HR Professional Development Program will help
you accomplish your long-range career goals?
I know I want to work in Asia long term but I first want to learn a lot at
corporate headquarters and transfer it there. In order to be a strong leader in
the future, it is important to gain international experience because Abbott is
going global. The HR Professional Development Program will help me to
accomplish my long-range career goals because it provides me opportunities to
work in different countries for each rotation in the next two years. For
example, I will travel to Shanghai for my next rotation in January 2008. I am
very excited about it. This program is the perfect match for me.