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Ang Yeaw Lee at the Biopharmaceutical Research Inc. (BRI) in Vancouver BC, Canada.

Class photo of course mates in University of British Columbia.

The lecture classroom for one month.

The Computer lab in UBC.

Photo taken at Aquarium of Vancouver.

Ang Yeaw Lee, a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) student, got the once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in the Vancouver Summer Programme in University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada from 15^th July to 15^th August 2017.

The Vancouver Summer Programme is an annual intensive four-week academic programme offered by various faculties at UBC for cohorts of students from cooperating universities all over the world.

She enrolled in two courses: Discovery of New Medicines, and Personalising Medicines with Genomics and Biotechnology, which consisted of total 78 contact hours.

The courses were conducted by Dr Harvey Wong and Dr Corey Nislow from UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and guest lecturers from the biotechnology industry. She was evaluated through four exams, two presentations and participation during lectures.

On 31^st July 2017, her class went on a tour of the Biopharmaceutical Research Inc. (BRI) facilities led by Dr David Kwok. BRI is a very specialised organisation contributing clinical, pre-clinical and discovery innovations to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. They also paid a visit to the laboratory facilities of UBC and learned about the procedure to run the advanced equipment.

Apart from academics, she learned about Canadian culture and society. The faculty offered a free tour to the Museum of Anthropology to study the history and culture of Canada.

She found the public transport system in Vancouver very convenient and accessible. She had a memorable time while abroad, from watching the fireworks by the English Bay, enjoying the morning walks in The Butchart Garden of Victoria Island, singing along with her international friends while enjoying the view of Bowen Island, taking a gondola from peak to peak in Whistler, to an intense 21km hiking experience at Garibaldi.

Through this programme, she learnt to strengthen her soft skills. This is the first time she has flown 16 hours away from Malaysia, alone, to a strange country. The solitary journey required a lot of patience, courage, discipline and communication skills.

Fortunately, the locals were friendly and helpful, and she could talk to them freely despite the cultural barriers. She encourages her juniors to join the annual Vancouver Summer Programme in the future if there is a chance to do so.