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Navigate new markets with an M.S. in Biotechnology

pharmacist writing on clipboard

Ahmed Osman was working as a retail pharmacist in Minneapolis when he decided to advance his career. Osman, who grew up in Kenya, focused his pharmacy work around providing exceptional care to a niche market of East African immigrants. To expand his skills as a pharmacist and better support his clients as a healthcare provider, Osman entered the Master of Science in Biotechnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Biotech drugs are the fastest and maybe the only growing area in the pharmaceutical industry,” Osman says. “I enrolled in the program to be ahead of the curve when these critical and newer forms of therapy hit the marketplace.”

The M.S. in Biotechnology Program focuses on product development and technology-based entrepreneurship, combining the study of science, law, and business. To accommodate working professionals, it offers classes on evenings and weekends. Instructors include UW-Madison faculty and leaders in the biotechnology field from private industry in the Madison region.

For two years, Osman commuted from Minneapolis to Madison every other week. By attending evening and weekend classes, he was able to complete the program while continuing his work in pharmaceuticals.

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After graduating in 2010, Osman focused on ways to make biotechnology innovations more accessible to everyone.

“The drug discovery and operations courses have been critical to me in my work, in so far as understanding the role of the Food and Drug Administration,” says Osman.

Osman’s new insights into the multiple disciplines surrounding biotechnology impressed his employers, and he was promoted to team leader of the executive pharmacy group at Target.

“My employer has asked its pharmacists what other experiences they could bring to the table,” says Osman. “Most of the experiences they were looking for came directly from what I learned in the M.S. in Biotechnology program.”

For more information on UW-Madison’s Master of Science in Biotechnology program, see here.

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