The Selection Committee of the Werner Fund awarded scholarships to the following students:

Ms Michelle A. Gaspard: EPF Lausanne
Polytechnique Montréal, Canada

Mr Oleh Hordiichuk: ETH Zürich
Ivan Franko Nat. University of Lviv, Ukraine

Ms Olivera Zivojinovic: ETH Zürich
University of Belgrade, Serbia

Ms Dorina Morina: ETH Zürich
Kharkiv National University, Ukraine

Mr Artem Kononenko: University of Geneva
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prague, Czech Republic

Ms Jane Marsden: University of Geneva
University of Limerick, Ireland

Once a year, the Werner Scholars are invited by one of the program sponsoring companies (Meet&Greet event) to visit their laboratories and to meet with researchers and company officials. In return, they will greet their hosts by presenting themselves and their MSc research project. After holding Meet&Greet events at Lonza, Syngenta and Firmenich, the current two classes of Werner Scholars had the opportunity to meet & greet F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel at the end of May.

Hosts and Program

After a short welcome by Dr. Volker Herdtweck, Dr. Christian Lerner, Principal Scientist of Medicinal Chemistry, launched the program by walking the young visitors through the drug discovery process (“from idea to medicine”). Four senior scientists, representing different areas of R&D, provided insight into career paths and day-to-day work at Roche (“Where chemistry matters”; see Table for presenters). During the lunch break, the Werner Scholars introduced themselves (“free speech” format).

After lunch, the Werner Scholars had the opportunity to visit a process technology (formulation) facility and a medchem analytical lab. In the second and final classroom session, after an introductory talk on “Careers at Roche”, the students discuss the job application and hiring process with two recruiters at great depth and detail. Questions such as “What does the company expect from a young chemist?”, “How do I get a job at Roche?” all the way to “what makes a good CV (… and what not)” were discussed in a very open manner.

The presenters of “Where Chemistry matters - Insight into Career paths and day-to-day work”:

- Dr. Jean-Yves Wach, Senior Scientist and RiCH Programme Manager, Medicinal Chemistry
- Dr. Stefan Hildbrand, Head of Process Chemistry & Catalysis
- Dr. Wolfgang Haap, Section Head Medicinal Chemistry Basel (Oncology)
- Dr. Juraj Sibic, Scientist in Process Analytical Technologies

For the farewell, the students were invited for a drink at the top of Roche Building 1 (38th floor), marking the official end of Meet & Greet 2019. The unofficial end of the event took place in Basel restaurant, where the Werner Scholars spontaneously met to toast on an exciting and very inspiring day.

The Visitors

The students participating (class 2017-19):
- Ms. Jessica Caldwell (USA), A. Merkle Inst., UniFR (B. Rothen-Rutishauser)
- Ms. Asma Mansouri (Algeria), UniGE (H. Hagemann)
- Ms. Alena Budinskà (Czech Rep.), ETHZ (A. Togni)
- Mr. Dragan Miladinov (Serbia), UniBas (Ch. Sparr)
- Mr. Kevin Maik Jablonka (Germany), EPFL (B. Smit)
- Mr. Luka Milosevic (Serbia), EPFL (J. Luterbacher)
- Mr. Brett M. Garabedian (USA), UniBas (Th. Ward)
- Ms. Kleni Mulliri (Albania), UniBE (Ph. Renaud)

as well as (class of 2018-2020):

- Ms. Michelle A. Gaspard (Canada), EPFL
- Ms. Daria Morina (Ukraine), ETHZ
- Mr. Artem Kononenko (Czech Rep.), UniGE
- Ms. Jane Marsden (Ireland), UniGE