I chose to study pharmacy following in my family’s footsteps: my grandmother, my mother and my father work in this profession and are the owners of a rural and an urban pharmacy. The work of the pharmacist has always been very interesting in my eyes, as I think it is one of the few professions allowing to link health, chemical and pharmaceutical knowledge to the commercial and economic world. Moreover, through his profession the pharmacist is able to put himself at the service of his community.
I chose to study at Università Cattolica because I considered the designers of this degree programme as the first to be able to grasp the great change that is taking place in the pharmaceutical sector in Italy. Pharmacies are increasingly immersed in the free market and there is now a clear need not only for a professional figure with knowledge in the pharmaceutical field, but also for a real manager. Pharmacies also aim to be the first bulwark of territorial health and knowing in depth the potential of the services to be offered is a key point in the management of this type of activity.
The idea of the European path of research was born from my inherent desire to try different experiences and get in touch with new cultures. I sent my application a little by chance after reading the announcement on the news page, and I must say that this experience turned out to be valuable as it not only allowed me to deepen topics and methods only read in books, but also to work in an international research laboratory. The whole experience represented a strong moment of growth both human and professional as it allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and acquire new skills and competences.
Università Cattolica is the best university I could have chosen, and I'm not saying this because I'm writing this article, but because in recent years I have been able to see for myself the attention to detail, the skills and professionalism of all the staff of the University, primarily the faculty, and I firmly believe that these qualities are not easy to find in other universities; together with this, the forward-looking vision of the individual faculties makes this University an excellence in the various areas in which it operates.
My advice to those students who are still uncertain about what to choose is to evaluate their own peculiarities and interests, in order to be able to identify a path that reflects their ambitions as much as possible and to find their own way and pursue their goals in the most serene way possible.
* In the picture above, Anna Percio, a 3rd year student in the integrated programme in Pharmacy of Università Cattolica, with Prof. Dr. Albert Sickmann, Chairman of the Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften - ISAS - e.V.(left), and Professor Andrea Urbani, President of the Pharmacy programme at Università Cattolica (right).
Ph. Credit: @ISAS
