Natural selection

We think of pharmacists as the friendly, bespectacled faces behind the counter of our local pharmacy, filling prescriptions and counselling us on our sneezes and wheezes.

It’s a dramatically different picture for 24-year-old Eden Simon as she completes her internship year at Liverpool Hospital, the busiest and largest hospital in the state. A standard day is spent tending to niche diseases, like tuberculosis, and managing complex patient care cases with doctors, nurses and other pharmacists.

Among the inaugural graduating class of Master of Pharmacy students from UTS Graduate School of Health, Simon has had what she calls a “natural progression” from her undergraduate degree in Medical Science. “I feel like deep down I am a scientist; I love science, physics, chemistry, I love it all. But on a day-to-day basis I like to be involved with patients.”

Although it wasn’t a childhood aspiration to be a pharmacist that motivated her, Simon made a conscious decision to progress to a Master of Pharmacy in 2012. “I was attracted to the fact UTS was promising a practice-based, new and exciting degree, one that was different to all the others. It was a promise, and I personally believe that’s what was delivered.”

Simon is already putting her learning into action. “I think, at the time, a lot of students didn’t understand why we were doing so much problem-based learning. Now we have a more intuitive structure ingrained to break down a problem and solve it.”

Between working for global pharmaceutical company MSD and regular weekly hours in a local pharmacy – on top of a paid gig developing educational materials for pharmacists with Glaucoma Australia– Simon was surprised at the comprehensive clinical placements offered through UTS.

“Pharmacy is evolving; it’s scary but it’s exciting. Our role as pharmacists is changing, in Australia and around the world, so it’s really important that future pharmacists are prepared.”

Having completed over 500 hours of placements over the two-year degree, Simon feels profoundly changed by the experience of working with patients in palliative and intensive care at Prince of Wales Private Hospital. “It was such an experience to be involved in end-stage life and the care of a patient. It really shook me – in a good way. I walked away with a different perspective on life.”

Also keeping her perspective are her friends and family who are her focus during her downtime from the bustling hospital environment. “They bring me back to reality and enable me to relax and wind down. Some people like to paint or knit, but I just need to talk to my friends and family,” says Simon.

Following what promises to be a busy intern year and steep learning curve, Simon will sit her exams for registration as a pharmacist in October among her fellow UTS Pharmacy peers. She’s quietly excited about what the future holds. “I’ve always had a really open mind about where I was going to go and what I was going to do, but I knew it would be within science and in health. It is really natural for me to be where I am now.”