Nipuni Welihinda

What year did you graduate?

I graduated from St George’s University in 2012

What course did you study?

I studied the Biomedical Science Bachelor’s Degree at St George’s

What is your current role?

I moved to Sweden in 2016 to study for a master’s in Biomedicine at Uppsala University. After completing my master’s degree I started working as a clinical research associate (CRA)/ clinical study monitor for a pharmaceutical company in Sweden.

How did you get into your current role?

I started working in clinical trials on obesity and psychiatric disorders in young adults during my master’s degree at Uppsala University in Sweden. I recruited study trial participants, collected blood samples and data from them and analysed study data.

I also picked a special study module in clinical drug development during my studies, which gave me a thorough understanding of as well as hands on experience in running clinical trials.

For my master thesis I designed and completed a pilot study with the title “Effect of the obesity related FTO gene on impulsivity and inhibitory control: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) - A pilot study”.

At the end of all this, my mind was pretty set on a career in clinical trials. Just before I graduated with my master’s degree I was contacted by a recruiter from a pharmaceutical company who had come across my profile online, and put me forward for an interview for a clinical trial assistant role.

However, because of my clinical trial experience and making a good impression during the interview, I ended up getting hired for a more senior role as a clinical study monitor. Therefore, I was fortunate enough to skip the job hunting phase after graduation.

Can you describe a typical day?

As a clinical study monitor I act as the main contact person between the site, which is the clinic running the trial and the sponsor, which is the pharmaceutical company testing their new drug.

Therefore, my job involves a lot of travelling to hospitals and liaising with consultants and study nurses. I train the site staff on the clinical trial protocols to ensure they know the study procedures and make visits to ensure the staff are conducting the trials according to the protocol.

Checking the study data integrity is also a vital part of the role. Currently, I am responsible for a number of phase I and phase III clinical trials, with study sites across Sweden and Denmark.

When I am not at a hospital I still constantly communicate with the staff of the sites I am responsible for, providing guidance and support as needed and working on relevant study documentation.

What do you enjoy about your role?

I really enjoy the travelling aspect of my job and talking to doctors and nurses. As a study monitor I also have to be very well informed on the trial protocols for the studies I am working on.

This gives me the opportunity to delve deep into various therapeutic areas and learn about different mechanisms of action of new study drugs. The most rewarding part of my job is knowing that I am playing a major role in helping new drugs get into the market, which can help millions of patients across the world who are in need of new/alternative medication.

What do you find challenging in your current role?

Being responsible for a couple of clinical trials in different therapeutic areas with completely different study drugs can be rather challenging.

I’ve had several situations where a trial doctor would ring me out of the blue asking for instructions on how to deal with certain study drug related adverse events.

On these occasions I have to think on my feet and provide clear instructions in a way the trial participant’s safety or the trial data integrity is not compromised.

What advice would you give to a current student at St George’s who is keen to get into a similar area of work as you?

As we are currently racing against time to find a vaccine for the Covid-19 pandemic, clinical trials and clinical research have suddenly caught the attention of everyone!

More people are realising the importance of clinical research and are showing an interest in either participating or finding out more about clinical trials. So, take this opportunity to get some relevant experience as early as you can!

Which aspects of your degree are relevant for your current role?

The subjects physiology and anatomy from the biomedical science degree are very useful for understanding the study drug mechanisms in clinical trial protocols.

The very broad therapeutic area knowledge from the degree is also extremely useful when discussing and training doctors and nurses on trial protocols and procedures.

Do you have any advice or a message for current students at St George’s?

Make the most out of your university days and be an active part of student life. If joining a sports team is not your cup of tea (like me), join a society that you are interested in or set up your own!

Try and make use of the seminars and symposiums on offer at St George’s where researchers present their work or discuss hot research topics. I regularly attended Jenner symposiums and thoroughly enjoyed them!

Do you have any advice or a message for students considering studying at St George’s?

St George’s isn’t the biggest University in London, but it certainly is one of the finest! Apart from the excellent teaching and research facilities it also offers a wide range of student societies and activities where you can showcase your talent and make friends.

Furthermore, alumni of St George’s include pioneers in medicine and surgery such as Henry Gray, Edward Jenner and John hunter, to name a few. So, if you are looking for a career in medicine or research and would like to be part of cutting-edge research, I can highly recommend St George’s!