Godinet is chosen for unique APPE rotation with the FDA

An interest in drug development and public health led DKICP P3 Tyler Godinet to apply for a fourth-year APPE rotation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This spring he was notified he’d been accepted for the agency’s six-week Pharmacy Student Experiential Program starting in August at the FDA screening facility at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu.

“I originally was thinking of a pharmacy career in research, but after I attended an FDA seminar on non-traditional roles for pharmacists, I learned about the agency’s consumer safety officer position, which sounded like what I wanted to do,” explains Godinet. “It deals with making sure that drugs produced by all manufacturers, both domestic and abroad, meet FDA standards.”

The FDA rotation is application-based and highly competitive, says Jarred Prudencio, DKICP associate professor and director of experiential education. “It should provide wonderful hands-on learning for Tyler. We were happy to see him take the initiative to seek out this unique opportunity.”

Godinet, who received a bachelor of science degree in biology at UH Manoa, first got interested in pursuing a Pharm.D. degree while working on a project as part of the Minority Health Research Training program there. “My project focused on the development and characterization of topical formulations of adefovir dipivoxil for the prevention of HIV infection.”

As part of his project, Godinet spent three months in India, working with a preceptor at the Indira College of Pharmacy in Pune. “I also had a U.S.-based mentor in Dr. Abhijit Date, who at that time was on the faculty at DKICP. Working with Professor Date and learning so much from my time in India helped convince me to pursue a career in pharmacy.”