Universidad Europea de Madrid (UEM) has been sending students to UCR since 2012. A notable alum from this longtime partnership is Patricia Hazen González, a 2017 graduate of the Postgraduate Diploma Program in Bioengineering.
Dean Kevin Vaughn was recently in Spain, reconnecting with educational agencies and university partners in Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, and Vigo. During his travels, he spent time with PGD alumna Patricia Hazen González. Patricia, also a graduate of UEM, shared a lot of memories, brought Kevin up to date on what she’s been doing the last few years, and offered great ideas about ways to stay connected.
Patricia is currently working with Thermo Fisher Scientific as an Inside Sales Representative. Thermo Fisher Scientific is a successful, growing global organization with revenues of more than $40 billion and the largest investment in R&D in the industry, serving 500,000 customers with 70,000 products in 180 countries. She represents much of Spain, and has close ties to university labs.
As a sales representative, Patricia is responsible for driving growth in TFS’ consumables portfolio - protein, cell and molecular biology. This also includes selected equipment relating to the consumables portfolio to include endpoint PCR equipment, fluorescent microscopes and flow cytometers and various other small benchtop laboratory equipment. The majority of Patricia’s business comes from academic and government funded customers due to a strategic business plan she works on to increase and generate sales via onsite customer visits.
After her studies at UCR University Extension, Patricia took an additional semester at UCR to complete her degree in biotechnology. She also had the opportunity to do an internship in the Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine, Molecular and Cellular Engineering laboratory. Since her graduation, Patricia has also interned with Astellas Pharma, a pharmaceutical research company and later joined Merck Life Science for three years as a Technical Service Representative, before moving on to TFS.
Patricia really does feel that the PGD program was transformative and, in her own words, “Getting to know so many people from many different countries and cultures was very insightful and made me become more open-minded, tolerant and respectful. My experience was remarkable. Everyone had different backgrounds, experiences and interests; but the PGD program gave us the opportunity to become a beautiful family.”
“For my career path, the program was a plus for my knowledge about Human Resources, Management, Change and Technology. For my personal life, it was a wonderful opportunity for character building. It gave me the perfect opportunity to have exactly what I wanted: a career combining science with business,” she shared.
Patricia remembers fondly the classrooms filled with students where English, Spanish, and French were mixed with ease, and how she and her classmates would run to Yogurtland for a quick treat between classes! She also spoke about her very challenging study module on finance, and how proud she was to deliver a graduation speech to her peers.
She feels a very strong connection to UCR and hopes to stay engaged to current students and fellow alums by presenting a class, serving on a focus group, sharing career advice, and would like to work with us to facilitate an alumni event in Madrid with the more than 1,000 students who have studied with us. She feels it would be an excellent way to network with fellow alums. Stay tuned as we explore the possibilities!
Finally, Patricia had a few words of advice for students just getting started on their educational journeys, “Build an educational foundation. Get an early start. Look for internship opportunities. Build your network. Keep your skills up-to-date. And ALWAYS pursue your passion.”