Darienny Stover expanded her skills through the online master’s program, advancing her career at one of the largest pharmaceutical production facilities in the world.
As an undergraduate in Brazil, Darienny Stover knew she “wanted to go big.”
She studied materials science, researched ultrasonic sensors to assess oil composition with sponsorship of Brazilian’s largest energy company, Petrobras, and was well on her way to a career in that industry. Then she headed to the United States with an eye toward improving her English and then returning home to start her career. Instead, she immigrated and landed at Merck – a drug giant rather than an oil giant.
Her Master of Pharmaceutical Bioengineering (PharBE) from the University of Washington has helped her make sure she can continue to “go big” throughout her career.
“I was used to dirty hands from the mechanical and petroleum laboratories rather than the sterile environment,” Stover said. “I knew I liked what I was learning at Merck, but I also knew I needed more. I needed to understand the background biology and the chemical processes better.”
That’s exactly what the PharBE is meant to provide. The program encourages professionals to study a range of topics in the pharmaceutical industry, while providing the flexibility of a part-time, online degree.
“Darienny is such a good example of our PharBE students and what a PharBE degree can do to advance your career,” said Professor Robbie Wong, who directs the program. Courses taught by Wong were an important part of her studies, according to Stover.
“She is curious, driven, and was ready to learn as much as she could from the faculty and the industry experts who are taking drug candidates from concept to market every day.”
Stover started as a contractor at Merck only six years ago. She received her most recent promotion soon after completing her PharBE and is now a senior quality assurance specialist in West Point, Pennsylvania. The West Point site is one of the biggest pharmaceutical production facilities in the world, with more than 10,000 employees producing hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines annually.
Stover is responsible for quality management systems, working as a Site Topic Lead across multiple integrated production teams. The production teams are focused on vaccines manufacturing, including Gardasil for preventing human papilloma virus and certain cancers; Varivax, a live vaccine for chickenpox; PedvaxHIB, which protects against Haemophilus influenza type B; Recombivax HB, a Hepatitis B vaccine; Vaqta, a Hepatitis A vaccine; Rotateq, which prevents rotavirus infection in infants; M-M-R II, a live vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella; and ProQuad, a combination vaccine of M-M-R II plus varicella, protecting children from measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox. She is also a reviewer for documents on global vaccine operations for Merck, and she is a Doctorate of Engineering candidate at George Washington University.
“I get to constantly question things in my role,” she said. “Not everything is clear in the SOPs [standard operating procedures], and now I can help to write and approve SOPs supported by my background. The PharBE sped up my learning on the job and gave me a theoretical understanding of the decisions and guidance I have to provide.”