Apotex Inc. Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences
David Wang
Third-Year Pharmacy Student
University of British Columbia
Vancouver
When David Wang first arrived in Vancouver to study pharmacy at the University of British Columbia’s Entry-to-Practice PharmD program, he realized something. Up until this point, he had never felt out of his comfort zone.
But now he was in a new city. He didn’t know anyone, and he was about to begin formal training to become a health professional. He needed to act.
“I was reading a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People and I realized, to grow in life, I had to put myself into uncomfortable positions,” he said. “I’m from Saskatchewan and coming to UBC was a big change for me. I was initially scared of not making friends, and I had no experience in participating in the student body.”
He decided to apply to be the first-year representative on the UBC Pharmacy Undergraduate Society (PhUS) and to join various university clubs. The experience made him more confident, and he asked himself what’s another area where he could challenge himself, to put himself further out of his comfort zone?
David Wang is a third-year pharmacy student at the University of British Columbia.
“I personally wasn’t big on finance, and that’s a skill I wanted to improve on. So in second year, I ran for the vice-president of finance position with PhUS,” Wang said.
By the third year, he was ready to try out leadership.
“That’s when I was elected to the PhUS President role.”
During his terms, Wang led efforts to optimize the society’s budget and found $40,000 in savings — money that he is now seeking to give back to the students in the form of UBC Pharmacy backpacks.
“The MD program, dentistry and even physio, they all have their own bags,” he said. “Why don’t we? This is a big milestone in a person’s education journey. So we have been working with Lululemon and are negotiating with them to try to get our students some bags.”
Wang was drawn to pharmacy in part because he wants to give back to people, and also in part because of his wanderlust. The latter is not quite satisfied just yet, and after graduation, he would like to travel to Ontario to seek opportunities in industry.
“I’m thinking about applying to the industry residency, maybe to work in biotech or a large pharmaceutical company. I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I know I want to focus more on leadership, and innovation.”