Rwanda native Clement Mugabe is pursuing his dream career in pharmaceutical sciences as the first recipient of a new post-doctoral fellowship jointly sponsored by MSFHR and Merck at The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD).
CDRD is a non-profit research centre, funded in part by MSFHR, created to transform therapeutically promising discoveries stemming from publicly-funded health research into viable investment opportunities for the private sector - thereby bridging the commercialization gap between academia and industry, and ensuring the societal returns on public health research investment are maximized.
Part of this mandate includes developing the next generation of highly-qualified drug development personnel, which is reflected in a unique training program combining elements of both industrial and academic settings. This new fellowship, with a focus on drug development and delivery, is an excellent match with Clement’s career goals.
“CDRD’s expertise in terms of its infrastructure and industry experience and focus, will give me the exposure and experience I can’t get in academia,” he says. “CDRD has an excellent training program including workshops and seminars, as well as a mentorship component. It’s a really unique and valuable environment for those looking to work in industry.”
In his fellowship position, Clement will work with CDRD’s drug delivery team to develop new formulations and delivery systems, contribute to collaborative research, and conduct studies in support of drug development projects.
Dr. Michel Roberge, CDRD’s Scientific Director commented, “Clement was chosen from a wide pool of applicants from around the world, and exemplifies the qualities that we look for in CDRD postdoctoral fellows, including the ability to work in a highly collaborative and productive environment, and a view to the therapeutic and commercial applications of research. He’ll be an excellent addition to our research team, and will gain a broad range of experience from many different innovative projects.”
Clement is particularly excited by the broad scope of CDRD’s initiatives. “The good thing about coming here to CDRD is that I’ll gain exposure to a lot of projects from different fields,” he says. “This will help me develop the technical skills I need to gain to successfully become a pharmaceutical scientist.”
Posted on: July 11, 2011