How Dr Rory Taylor earned FPM’s Academic Achievement Award 2024
Posted on: Monday 29 July 2024
Author: FPM
Dr Rory Taylor was awarded FPM’s Academic Achievement Award at our 2024 Annual Awards Ceremony. Find out how he achieved the highest marks in both the Certificate in Pharmaceutical Medicine and the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine examinations.
About:
Rory graduated with a MBChB from the University of Edinburgh and began his medical training in North West London. In 2022 he moved from full-time clinical work in the NHS to take up a research post at a clinical trials site. After building his research experience and completing the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine he has recently transitioned to an industry role to pursue his interest in drug development.
Congratulations on achieving the top results in both parts of the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine examination! Can you start by telling us a little about yourself?
Thank you. I graduated from University of Edinburgh medical school in 2019 and underwent clinical training in London and Glasgow. I started working in clinical research as an investigator at a private research site in late 2022, and now work in clinical development for a sponsor.
What initially made you choose to sit the DPM?
I wanted to learn more about pharmaceutical medicine and gain a respected qualification that would demonstrate some degree of knowledge and competency in the field. It was mentioned to me by a contact that I should consider the DPM and after reading about it on the FPM website I decided it met both of those criteria. Specifically, there is no need for mandatory in person attendance for teaching (like university programmes), so you can undertake it at your own convenience.
Can you share your study routine with us? How did you prepare for the exams?
I started around nine months before the exam and devoted a few hours a week to studying rather than cramming. My introductory text was the “textbook in pharmaceutical medicine” which I thought was a great starter document although not detailed enough for the exam. From there I read official guidance documents from ICH/FDA/EMA/ABPI, and used the past papers on the FPM website and the DPM curriculum as a guide to determine topics I would need to study and familiarise myself with.
Were there any particular training courses, resources or materials that you found especially helpful?
I did not do any external courses, although from speaking to other candidates I strongly suspect that course the FPM offers [The DPM Training Programme] would be the most time efficient way to learn. The textbook of pharmaceutical medicine I found a useful introductory text, but the bulk of learning should be from current official guidance documents from organisations such as ABPI/EMA/ICH. ICH and EMA in particular have some excellent reference documents on their public websites.
Did you face any challenges during your preparation? How did you overcome them?
The curriculum is very broad and it is difficult to acquire the information you need to know, as it is not located in a single reference location. I overcame this by planning well in advance and systematically studying topics from the curriculum.
How did you manage your time during the actual examinations?
Worse than I thought I would. As the SAQ [short answer questions] and CAP [critical appraisal papers] don’t use negative marking it can be tempting to write additional points to maximise your score on each question, but it is easy to run out of time doing this. Late on in the CAP paper I realised I had made a maths error on one of the statistics questions but it was too late to correct it because I spent too much time focusing on other questions.
What advice would you give to other candidates aiming to follow in your footsteps to achieve top results?
Plan your studying well in advance and don’t leave it all to the end. Study the DPM because you want to learn more about industry, it can be quite difficult to devote hours to memorising regulatory guidance if your only motivation for doing so is just to pass an exam.
Finally, can you share your reflections on being awarded the Academic Achievement Award at the 2024 FPM Annual Awards Ceremony?
I was hesitant about attending as I don’t live in London but it was definitely worth it. Working in industry can feel somewhat siloed and isolated compared to working in academia or for the NHS and it was great to meet other people from the FPM community at the event and see the breadth of the community.
