March 27, 2025, by ZY
Experience Sharing: Summer Internship at Pfizer
By Mr. James Chong, who is currently a Year 3 Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) student based at the University of Nottingham, UK.
Where did you do your summer internship? How long was it?
This year, I have done my internship at Pfizer as a Corporate Affairs intern. I started my role in the middle of June, and it lasted until early September.
What did it involve?
I believe many of us aren’t familiar with the role of corporate affairs, as it was not a pharmacy background-related role. To cut it short, the team managed and actively communicated with various internal stakeholders composed of the marketing team, market access team, compliance team etc.. and several external stakeholders such as government relations, NGOs etc.
During my role, I have been extensively involved in our Philanthropic and Social Impact team. Under the efforts of MyREACH, we have reached out to multiple underprivileged and underserving communities, where we have collaborated with NGOs such as NCSM, KKM etc where we have conducted health check-ups and raised health awareness on certain topics.
Onto covering my day-to-day tasks. Just like any other internship, I have to give a hand to my team and provide assistance on administrative work. Though it wasn’t really an exciting task, but it really allowed me to be immersed into working in an office environment, where these small tasks allowed me to contribute to the success of our team project. The most exciting one that will make my entire journey interesting is my individual intern project presentation. The project is in relation to the scope of corporate affairs, which is policymaking.
What did you find interesting throughout this experience?
Honestly speaking, my role is certainly not the most exciting one you could get from an internship, but what makes it interesting throughout the journey is surely the friends that I have made at Pfizer. These friends came from various departments in Pfizer, ranging from Sales, Marketing, Market Access, People Experience etc. Since most of them came from different backgrounds and experiences, their advice would surely be the most valuable one.
How did the summer internship support your learning and future career development?
Since my goal is to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry upon graduation, both of my internship experiences in GSK (in Year 1) and Pfizer would surely make a significant impact on job hunting as a Fresh Graduate!
What is one take home message you obtain from this experience?
If you want to pursue a career in Industry, Hospital, or community Pharmacy, feel free to give it a try during our summer! With an MPharm degree, you must trust yourself that you can bring value to the company and always talk to your supervisor about your future plans!
What is your advice to current or prospective students on signing up for summer internships?
You should start early as soon as Y1! You would appreciate yourself in the future for making this effort and it would surely make a difference in your Resume! If you have doubts about your Resume writing, confused about your career pathway? Feel free to drop me a text or pay a visit to UNM’s Career Advisory Service (CAS). An extra effort on it would make a difference in your future career 
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