A day in the life of: Hanna-Maaria: A 3rd year ECVP veterinary anatomic pathology resident during her six-month externship in the pharmaceutical industry.
Who, and where, are You: Hanna-Maaria Javela, ECVP Resident at the University of Helsinki, Finland
What did You do today at work: I spent most of the day looking at digital slides of different organs from a toxicological study and writing down the diagnoses. Later we went through my findings with the responsible pathologist of the study and compared them to the findings in the official report. I also spent some time diving into the depths of general pathology while trying to figure out the pathogenesis behind the histopathological and clinicopathological findings related to the study.
The 3 best things related to work today:
1. Support and encouragement from the responsible pathologist.
2. Increasing my understanding about toxicological pathology and realizing how complex the mechanisms behind a potential drug candidate are.
3. Getting to have a glimpse of what working as a pathologist in the pharmaceutical industry can be like.
The 3 least enjoyable things at work today:
1. I guess I am old-fashioned, but I must admit that I prefer using an actual microscope over the digital slides.
2. When compared to the University’s small work community, the industry is so big that it takes more time to get to know everybody.
3. “The more I learn, the more I realize how much there still is to learn.”
Your greatest pathology experience so far:
A sloth!
Also, the ECVP Summer Schools with the great fellow residents.