Retrospective Interviews

Wayne Colburn Retrospective Interview: Vijay V. Upreti, PhD, FCP

The ACCP Student Outreach Committee is pleased to share an interview with Vijay V. Upreti, PhD, FCP, 2007 winner of the Wayne A. Colburn Memorial Award. Dr. Upreti graciously shares with us how his career has been influenced by membership in ACCP and winning the Colburn Award.

Please tell us about your career since receiving the Wayne Colburn Award? Following receiving the 2007 Wayne Colburn Award in my final year of PhD (at University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy), I was immediately hired by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacometrics (2007) as Research Investigator & was promoted to Senior Research Investigator in 2009. I worked for 5+years with BMS developing cardio-vascular & anti-diabetic therapeutics & currently (since 2013) I am Principal Scientist of Quantitative Pharmacology, PKDM with Amgen developing novel biologic anti-cancer therapeutics.

How has receiving the Wayne Colburn Award impacted your career? The encouragement of receiving this award at a national level by one of the most major clinical pharmacology organizations in the nation at such early stage in my career was the key. It gave me the necessary boost that helped me excel in this field. The value of this award is highlighted by this simple fact that immediately following my presentation & award ceremony at the 2007 ACCP meeting I was approached by leaders from both industries as well regulatory agencies in the field of clinical pharmacology & pharmacometrics with the same question “would you like to join us”. This question is like music to a student/trainee. I cannot thank ACCP & my mentors enough for the Wayne Colburn Award.

What advice would you give to current student members in regards to the importance of receiving awards like this? Only one - There are very few national levels organizations in the field of clinical pharmacology & pharmacometrics that offer such opportunities to student members. I have been fortunate to have received Wayne Colburn Award & have seen the direct boost it gave to my career in this field. I will strongly encourage all the student members to participate in ACCP, submit their research for the annual meetings & not miss out on such golden opportunities.