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How UC is helping one student chase her passion

Jinnipha Pajoubpong ’23, was working at a pharma company as a regulatory pharmacist in her home country of Thailand when she had an epiphany.

Jinnipha Pajoubpong, ’23, was working at a pharma company as a regulatory pharmacist in her home country of Thailand when she had an epiphany. “I was doing a lot of desk work and documents and I thought to myself, this is not what I want to do, I wanted to go back to what I felt passionate about in pharmacy school.” For Pajoubpong, that passion was lab work and skin products. .

Jinnipha Pajoubpong ’23

Jinnipha Pajoubpong ’23. Photo/provided.

Pajoubpong knew she would need to go back to school in order to pursue this passion, so she started looking at schools in the U.S. that offered a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences. She was drawn to UC because of its unique cosmetic science curriculum. “In my program, I am able to focus on cosmetic science as well as pharmaceutical science, which is really important to me and not every school has that,” says Pajoubpong.

About her favorite aspects of UC, Pajoubpong says, “I really enjoy the coursework I’m doing and the people here. I really like to see how people interact with each other. I have been able to work with other students on various research projects and it has been mind-blowing to see all the different perspectives others have.”  

Pajoubpong credits her professors for much of her success. “My professors don’t care what I look like or any of that, just about the work I am doing,” she says. “I feel like I can talk to them about anything and they will listen to me. I can tell they really know what they are talking about when it comes to the topics they are teaching.”

At UC, scholarships change lives

Coming to UC was no easy task for Pajoubpong as she needed financial assistance. “I was looking for scholarships because I couldn’t afford school on my own.” Without her scholarship, Pajoubpong says that studying at UC wouldn’t have been possible. “Thank you to the donors who gave money to my scholarship. It’s life-changing and provides big opportunities for people like me who rely on them in order to achieve their dreams.”

Pajoubpong hopes to be able to follow her passion after graduation. “My future goal is to teach and do research with skin products that can benefit and impact people. UC has many resources that have helped me prepare for my next stage of life. From so many knowledgeable professors, I have learned how to conduct research, how to think rationally, and how to tackle problems.” 

Featured image at top: College of Pharmacy. Photo/provided.