Speaker: Arionne Keaton, Global Medical Affairs Fellow, Ascendis
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Arionne Keaton: Hi, everyone. My name is Arionne Keaton. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Then I left the cold and went a little more to the south where it's very sunny. I'm a fresh PharmD graduate from Florida A&M University. Now I've went to the East Coast in Princeton, New Jersey, where I work as a first year global medical affairs fellow at Ascendis, rotating within the medical affairs department. That includes medical information, medical communications and then our scientific training team.
What experience have you gained from the PharmD Fellowship?
Arionne Keaton: My experience thus far has been very, very exciting. I didn't have any prior industry experience before landing this role. So it was very new. However, love it. I absolutely love it. I've been in this role for about 5 to 6 months. One thing that I've really learned or two things that I really learned is communication and learning how to adapt. I am currently working with the training department. We are solely responsible for creating content and information for our colleagues, our field team or anyone that needs to get trained on information and we make the material for everyone, which means I kind of have to pivot and be able to get this message aligned or across to individuals that have so many different backgrounds and their audience is gonna be different. And so the most challenging or exciting part about this is that ok, now, I have to critical critically think how can I get this message across as simple as possible so that they're able to do their job and comprehend it well. Being able to adapt is so important within pharma as a whole. In general, it's always changing. And within the company you're working at, it can vary as well. And so being able to pivot and adapt to anything that gets looped into your task that needs to be done, needs to get done. By the way, there are no day to day tasks, you know, you may be having a project that you're working on, but every day it differs depending on company needs. And so just being able to recognize that and being ok with that because it's always going to be happening is something that I learned, and I actually enjoy, you know, I, I'm up for the challenge. I'm always up for change and things that get tossed my way. I like to feel useful in situations. So, so far, my experience has been wonderful and my team is great.
What are your plans after the fellowship?
Arionne Keaton: Post fellowship, I definitely want to stay within the industry, specifically medical affairs. Getting or landing a a PharmD fellowship within industry, kinda gets your foot in the door so you're able to showcase the skills that you have already built in pharmacy school and then expand or build upon them with the experiences and opportunities that you gain within the industry. I'm really taking full advantage of this opportunity so that, I have things to talk about post fellowship when I'm trying to enter a full time role. I'm also going to continue networking and building relationships with individuals. I really learned that throughout the pharm I really learned that throughout the fellowship, how to network and even if it's someone from a different department, they may not be useful at that moment, but you never know, five, ten years down the line, you might see them again. And it's like, oh, I remember that interaction that we had. And so that's very important. I want to keep continuing doing that and eventually, well, not eventually right away once I'm done with the fellowship I do want to land a field role. However, I'm also up to in-house roles as well. But it's always been a goal for me to land a field role post fellowship so I'm looking forward to that.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Arionne Keaton: I just want to say good luck to anyone that's watching this video that wants to obtain a fellowship. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. And if you don't obtain a fellowship, that's ok as well, you don't have to have a fellowship to be in pharma or industry. There's many different individuals that take so many different routes to get to where they are. And so, just have faith and trust the process. It's ok you might get a lot of no's before you get your one yes, but that one, yes is all that matters. Don't get discouraged throughout the process because it can get stressful. And again, if you, or anyone needs to talk, needs advice, needs help or anything, feel free to reach out.
