All it took was an optional course just before graduation to ignite Luisiawati Khalil’s career in the biopharmaceutical field.
The “Good Clinical Practice” course in 1994 at the University of Surrey, where she earned her degree in nutrition and dietetics, was a game-changer.
Further inspiration came in 2011 when she earned her Master of Public Health at the National University of Singapore.
“I attended it, and the entire contents just ‘spoke to me’,” she says, drawn by the fact that she can save lives through clinical work.
And this is at the heart of what good clinical practice is about – to provide care for patients through excellent teamwork, flawless clinical operations, and collaboration with Singapore’s top institutions. It typically involves diagnosing, treating, managing medical conditions, assessing patients, and evaluating treatment outcomes.
“I have always taken a liking to biological and life sciences since my teenage years,” says Luisiawati, whose interest was piqued by the idea that she too, could play a role in drug development that gives hope to patients.
That spark brought her to MSD, a global biopharmaceutical leader, where she has stayed for over 20 years and now serves as director in global clinical trial operations for Singapore and Malaysia within MSD Research Laboratories.
Luisiawati, now in her 50s, started at MSD as a clinical research associate and climbed the ranks over the years to lead trials in oncology, vaccines, and general medicine.
Her journey has been rewarding, but it has also been demanding.
Monitoring clinical trials in hospitals is hard work, but the challenges invigorate Luisiawati.
And there are plenty in this field – having to deliver under stress, to follow ethical and time-sensitive standards, to stay up-to-date with regulations, and policies in different jurisdictions that may not be as friendly for trials to be conducted.
What adds to the shine of the sector for her is the fact that Singapore has many key opinion leaders in selected therapeutic areas.
What this means is that the industry is vibrant and collaboration is plenty.
It then ensures that Singapore is competitive and comparable to international standards, says Luisiawati.
MSD, known as Merck & Co Inc in the United States and Canada, has been in Singapore for 30 years, employs over 1,800 people, and manufactures and supplies four of its top 10 global products from Singapore.
Multiple functions including research, manufacturing, and commercial operations are located in Singapore, with its Asia-Pacific headquarters.
The group has an extensive presence in Singapore and invested in expanding its operations, which include manufacturing facilities, an animal health site, a translational medicine research centre, and an information technology hub.
In Singapore, MSD has made investments in excess of US$2 billion for manufacturing assets since 1997 and over US$240 million in research since 2009.
So how can other Singaporeans excel in global MNCs like her?
“Go back to first principles,” says Luisiawati, who adds that people should remind themselves of what they are passionate about and good at.
Another tip – be comfortable with the uncomfortable, she says.
So what lesson has she learnt along the way that matters a great deal?
Ask and Luisiawati will say it is best summed up by MSD’s founder, George Merck: “We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear.”
This, she says, “is a tenet that gives me reason and purpose to wake up every day and do what I do”.
