In the first Find Your Role Model Session of academic year 2018, we invited Dr. Naotsugu Oyama from Novartis Pharma. Dr. Oyama acquired his MD and PhD at Hokkaido University, followed by a Post Doctoral Degree at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. After his Post Doc, Dr. Oyama started working at a pharmaceutical company, meanwhile acquiring his MBA at Globis Management School. He is currently working at Novartis Pharma.
From the beginning to the end, the session was very interactive. Dr. Oyama kindly shared his opinion on conducting a Post Doc in the U.S., why and what he sees as an advantage of acquiring an MBA degree, and why he decided to work in the pharmaceutical field. The content of questions from the participants had a wide variety. Some were about Dr. Oyama’s career, others were related to biomedical research in general or economic conditions surrounding pharmaceutical research.
As a take home message, Dr. Oyama shared with us three lessons: respecting the perspective as an MD, working as a member of a strong team and making the most of limited time. I believe that the session was very fruitful and was a good opportunity for participants to reconsider their potential career choices for their future.