Miranda Sertic Shares what FIP world congress has in store for Young professionals.
By Fabrice HUMURA
Miranda Sertic was elected Chairperson of the Young Pharmacist Group of FIP for 2016/2017. Graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry University of Zagreb in 2006 Miranda obtained her PhD in 2013 in Pharmaceutical analysis. She published 14 scientific papers in leading international journals, 30 professional papers, participated in many national and international congresses with more than 60 scientific abstracts and gave several invited lectures and over 30 scientific and professional talks.
Her early exposure in FIP activities and remarkable success in pharmacy profession make her the right person to talk in details about FIP and world congress to young professionals.
What Young professionals could expect from upcoming FIP world congress in Abu Dhabi especially first timers?
Thank you, maybe I should start with my own experience. The very first congress that I attended was in Düsseldorf, Germany 2015 and the following year I was elected as chair. Lots of questions were running in my head, wondering whether I had enough experience for that. But I think my passion and inner drive helped me to make a difference.
The first imperative thing that young professionals should expect in congress is networking. The second one is to hear from pharmacy professionals from around the world which is paramount in someone’s professional growth.
It is until you have a global overview and international experience where you realize that there is so much more to take over from other countries and good examples of different additional services that pharmacists could implement in their respective countries.
Concerning what young professionals can gain from the congress, I can’t help myself to answer in two ways because I never think it is about individual, it is to an extent what you can gain and what you can give as well and to achieve those both, inevitably FIP congress is the best place to be. So at the FIP congress, people are welcoming and free to talk to people and embarking on friendship and closeness through social media to stay in touch.
Leadership development workshop was launched not so long ago within YPG, how has been the experience as one who participated and trained?
Leadership development workshop was established last year in Glasgow and it was performed by the former YPG committee. This is the opportunity for participants to learn certain set of skills that would be needed for individuals who are looking forward to joining YPG and FIP for leadership positions. It also serves as a platform to learn skills to be used at your national and local level. So there are very interesting skills and training about project management, communication skills, how running effective meetings, etc.
In additional to that the workshops dive into how FIP and YPG work, their aims and objectives as well as leadership positions. With all of these advantages, I encourage young professionals to attend.
What did gain from YPG that you think you couldn’t If you had not joined?
It’s hard to compare world’s realities, what would have happened if I didn’t join YPG. But What I can tell you without a doubt is that it broadened my mind and the way I perceived pharmacy and working with people. I have no doubt that this experience enriched me at so many different levels. It positively changed the way I wanted to conduct my professional career and impacted everything I do including academia where I am working; I teach having this broader picture with the whole profession, the inter professional landscape. I would not have this without certainly this experience in YPG.
Towards the end of my term in YPG I became part of the interest group on analytical science on pharmaceutical quality. It gave me the opportunity to be involved in FIP and get involved with pharmacy at international level.
