María
Pilar Montero Antón, alumna of the Double Degree in Pharmacy and
Nutrition and Dietetics (2014-2020) has come third in last year’s FIR exam
to gain a place as resident intern pharmacist. This exam is the official
training route for pharmaceutical specialists in Spain, whereby the higher the pass
mark, the greater the possibility for the candidate to train in their chosen specialty.
The successful applicant will begin a training period of professional scheduled
practice, supervised by a tutor. In last year’s exam, there were 1,300 applicants
contesting 267 places. The Ministry of Health has published the provisional
results and there now follows a period where candidates can challenge their
marks. The final selection will take place telematically in June.
24-year-old
Montero Antón, who is based in Zaragoza, graduated last year with a first-class
honors degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetic, and finished her studies
in Pharmacy with an average mark of 91%. She is grateful for the
"excellent academic and personal education" received at the university,
and deeply appreciates the quality of teaching received during her time at the School
of Pharmacy. She also values the many options that she has been able to take
part in including supervised internships in hospitals and international
mobility programs.
In
her fourth year (2017-2018) she participated in a one-year exchange program at
King's College London, where she learned to work with colleagues from different
cultures and professions. There, she also completed an internship at St. Thomas
Hospital and Guy´s Hospital, which reinforced her desire to specialize in the
field of Hospital Pharmacy. Later on, she carried out her supervised internship
in the hospital pharmacy service of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation (2019) where
she reaffirmed her decision.
Montero
Antón states that all the hard work to prepare herself for the exam, - with the
added complications of COVID - has been worthwhile and fully encourages all pharmacy
graduates who are thinking of taking this exam.
In
the coming months, she expresses a wish: not to put aside Human and Dietetic
Nutrition, which she is also passionate about. Perhaps in the area of ??parenteral nutrition, within the Hospital Pharmacy, she could combine both
disciplines.
In
addition to María’s excellent positioning, among the provisional FIR results, are
included more former Pharmacy students from CEU San Pablo University; Ana
Sánchez Cerviño, of the double degree in Pharmacy and Biotechnology, who is
ranked 35, Itziar González García (147) and Nicolás Roa Ruiz
(216).