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Student testimonial - Carolina San Pedro Liberal
Carolina's interest in developing drugs came in the final year of her undergraduate degree. Our MRes offered a placement with an active research group where she was able to test novel drugs in cancer.
20 October 2023
My interest in medicine started when I was around 14. I took a short internship in a care home, and I saw how older people were affected by different diseases. I wanted to make an impact in people's lives by doing research so that people can live better.
I came to the UK because it's well known for its academic reputation. It has some of the best universities in the world - especially for my field. There are many pharmaceutical companies and research groups that are really advanced.
During my last year studying a Biomedical Science degree, I decided I wanted to focus my career on therapy development. I studied Cancer Biology and Therapeutics, which triggered my interest in developing drugs.
That's why I decided to do the MRes Clinical Drug Development programme.
In the first term at UCL, I had the opportunity to choose between different research groups. I had the opportunity to do a 6-7-month placement (and my dissertation) with the Pereira/Acedo Lab, which was focusing on cancer research and especially the topic I like - the trial and research of novel therapies in cancer.
The whole group was really supportive. They always encouraged me to learn new techniques and to participate in different congresses at the university. In my project, I had the opportunity to test different novel drugs in cancer and that was really exciting - I want my career to focus on that.
In the future, I hope to get into a PhD programme related to what I've studied - mainly cancer biology, focusing on the trial of new therapeutics into different diseases.
I had a great time here at UCL. I would recommend the Master of Research (MRes) programme to anyone who is interested in the field.
Carolina San Pedro Liberal, MRes Clinical Drug Development, 2023.