The summer internships in leading pharmaceutical drug manufacturers such as MSJ

industries and Farmchemie (Pvt) Ltd. showed me how under developed and basic, the
research and new drugs development field is in Sri Lanka. I observed that even though
numerous diseases such as dengue and malaria exist in the island, most of these both
private and governmental, research and development departments are waiting for
international aid as they are reluctant to find a cure because of the lack of new technology
and laboratory facilities. Also, the current pharmaceutical manufacturing plants are ill
equipped to produce the new drugs introduced by the scientific community. Therefore it had
been my goal for a very long time to study in a globally recognized UK university and bring
back the knowledge to my country and develop the drug designing sector in Sri Lanka.
Every time, when I get a sickness my mother will always offer me a paracetamol tablet and
when I was small I just swallowed it without knowing what it actually does to the human
body. However, later on when Chemistry along with biology became my favorite subjects at
school I became interested in knowing what the ingredients in a drug are and understanding
its use.
In my school career, I was very keen on numerous sports such as cricket, table-tennis,
athletics, chess and especially Wushu, a Chinese martial art that I mastered and liked so
much that I became the Under 15 National Champion in 2012. In most of these sports, I
have come up to the national level that I have participated in All-island tournaments in
Athletics, cricket and Wushu. Not only these games have helped me to be more disciplined
and understand the effectiveness of team work and time management, they have also
helped me in understanding the human physiology and how different drugs change the
metabolism in our bodies for the both good or bad.
I have always managed my work properly and maintained my grades for all the subjects I
study which are Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics for A levels. While these
subject have helped me to become more focused on my future career, I have been able to
improve my skills in thinking both critically and creatively by being an active member of
numerous clubs such as Drama club, junior choir, Agricultural and Wild life society and Quiz
club. I also took part in the Sri Lanka Model United Nations where I discovered the true
impact of the pharmaceutical industry on the global economy. These extra-curricular
activities have given me vast knowledge about the global pharmaceutical manufacturing
industry and its growth.
With the knowledge I have gained from Advanced Level Biology and Chemistry, I have been
to clearly learn the effects of different chemicals on the human body, however it frustrates
me that still there is a large number of diseases throughout the world, taking lives every day
which forced me to think out of the syllabus. I became interested in the drug design and
development sector where I could learn about these fatal diseases and I could help to
develop new drugs that can be ideally produced in industries with a low cost and have the
maximum effect. Then I found the ideal course for my higher studies, named Medicinal
Chemistry. During the internship in the pharmaceutical analyzing and development
laboratory of the J L Morrison Sons & Jones (Ceylon) Plc. which is one of the first established
pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka, I discovered how drugs are analyzed
and tested using different methods such as High pressure liquid chromatography,
potentiometric and iodometric titrations and using micro-biology. Also in Farmchemie (PVT)
Ltd. which manufactures and imports veterinary pharmaceutical products, I observed the
different standards such as ISO and GMP in which different products are manufactured.
I actively participated in numerous community service projects and I was an active member
of the community service club in my school where I was given the opportunity to organize a

project where I organized numerous fund raisers for the form 2 class of 2014 to finally raise
more than one hundred thousand rupees from which we bought toys and books for the
children admitted in the national cancer hospital and donated the rest to an elders home. It
was an amazing experience for me to organize such an event and it gave me the chance to
realize that I we should always be there for the people who are ignored in the society even
though they do not deserve to be treated in that way. Also it helped me to become more
focused in selecting my future career in the industry of drug design because it is my goal to
help the pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Sri Lanka to provide affordable products of
best quality and effectiveness to these hospitals.