Pfizer gives boost to pharma-education

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Pfizer Canada announced Monday it is donating $600,000 to the recently created Life and Sciences Health Partnership campaign, which will help support the new pharmaceutical technology program to be offered by John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue and Collège Gérald-Godin in Ste. Geneviève.

The announcement was made during a symposium focusing on the challenges of science education at Pfizer Canada’s headquarters in Kirkland.

“This kind of corporate citizenship is actually unheard of,” said John Abbott director general, Keith W. Henderson, who added he is a strong believer that partnerships between corporations and educational institutions are the “way of the future” in recruiting students into science programs. “(The donation) will go a long way for us to fund a state of the art program.”

Henderson said it took nine years for both CEGEPS to get government approval for the pharmaceutical technology program. John Abbott and Gérald-Godin will be the only two CEGEPS in the province to offer the three-year career program.

Academic dean of Gérald-Godin, Sylvia Rossi, said the CEGEP will be welcoming its first group of pharmaceutical technology students in fall 2008. Construction on a new $5.7 million extension – including equipment for the program – to be added on to the back of the current building will begin shortly, she said.

“We already have a few applicants,” Rossi said, adding the college hopes to accept between 20 and 25 students for the program’s first year and up to 50 students in subsequent years.

John Abbott’s dean of science technologies, Erich Schmedt, said while planning for the new program has already begun, the college will start accepting students only after their new science and technology building is complete, most likely by 2011. “The architects are in place, and we’re currently determining the site of the building,” Schmedt said, adding the building’s design will largely be determined by the environment and equipment needed for the program’s courses. An advisory committee involving industry members will help make sure the program stays current and up to date. “If you’re training

graduates, you have to make sure you keep your finger on the pulse of the industry.”

Pfizer Canada’s president, Paul Lévesque, said it only made sense for the corporation to get involved in pharmaceutical technology education.

“We are a leader in the pharma-business. We are supposed to be forward-looking,” Lévesque said. Contributing to the education aspect will help make sure their future workforce will be bilingual and well-qualified, he added. “There is a big demand (in the pharmaceutical industry), especially in specialized domains.”

Education in pharmaceutical technology could lead to a variety of careers, including marketing, medical information, and research. Students may even continue their education in university if they want to specialize, Lévesque said.

“We have a substantial industry in the West Island, Montreal, and Quebec,” Schmedt said. “I think there will be a lot of interest in the program.”