When Kesari Samuel graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree in India, he did not expect that it would be the key to an international career spanning diverse continents. He landed his first job in his home country as a pharmacist at a 3,000-bed mission hospital. Years later, he relocated to Muscat, the capital city of the Sultanate of Oman famed for its ports. “I lived here for about four and a half years and it was wonderful to experience another part of the world that was different from where I was born and raised,” he says.
Kesari’s passion for exploring the world and growing in his pharmacy career continued when he applied for an opening in Kuwait and got it. He would go on to live in this small emirate located in the northwestern corner of the Persian Gulf for 15 years. “I was first brought on as a pharmacist at an outpatient pharmacy in a high-tech multispecialty hospital and was eventually promoted to supervisor. Years passed and I began to wonder what else life had in store for my family,” he says. The answer to that question came when the opportunity to move to Prince Edward Island presented itself. “Although I had never heard of the Island, curiosity got the better part of me. My children combed through the internet and loved what they saw about PEI. We decided as a family that it was both the right time and the right place for us,” Kesari says.
His tenure at a local pharmacy ended after one year and Kesari found himself in need of support as a jobseeker. “PEI Connectors has gone above and beyond to support me and help me understand the needs of the local job market,” he says. Kesari recently completed the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) biomanufacturing training and feels equipped for the next phase of his career. “I just finished the OJT component of a program that took me through the A-Z of biomanufacturing. I am excited to put all I have learned into practice when the opportunity comes,” he says. Kesari’s on-the-job training was at RPS Biologiques, a Charlottetown-based biotechnology company that combines ancient eastern knowledge with advanced scientific practices to create unique natural products for animal, aquatic, and human health.
Written by: Elizabeth Iwunwa
Photography: Mostafa Alizadegan
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