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Vismaya Bachu

Major: Chemical & Biological Engineering ‘19 Position: Medical Student at John Hopkins School of Medicine

Israel Miles

Vismaya Bachu, Chemical and Biological Engineering ’19, went straight from her undergraduate degree to become a medical student at John Hopkins School of Medicine. Bachu felt the need to transition to not just a new place, but to a new field as well. “I moved to Maryland after living in Colorado my whole life,” Bachu said. “I also switched fields from engineering to medicine, though I feel they are more similar than different.”

Bachu believes that evaluating the manner in which one learns can make a huge difference in academic performance and the ability to adapt to new challenges. “Learning how to learn was the most useful skill I developed during my time at CU ��«����Ƶ,” Bachu said. “I have found that though I am not currently in the engineering profession, a lot of engineering principles and skill sets are applicable across medicine and also many other disciplines.”

In addition to forming a clear path for her future, Bachu reminds students to follow their passions, and is thankful for the connections she made at CU. “Get excited about the infinite number of career possibilities your education allows you to pursue,” said Bachu. “And shout-out to all my professors in the Chemical & Biological Engineering department!”

Claire Livingston

Major: Chemical & Biological Engineering ’16 Position: Student in Pharmacy School

Skylar Edwards

Clare Livingston, Chemical and Biological Engineering ‘16, is currently in her fourth and last year of pharmacy school and is applying to residency programs. 

During her fourth year of pharmacy school, she does rotations, where she goes into a different setting and health system every six weeks. Her tasks range from calling patients to helping them with postfracture or osteoporosis management, rounding with the medical team, or evaluating new medications for their formulary status. During one of her rotations, Livingston was at a specialty outpatient pharmacy adjacent to a hospital that dealt with high-dollar / last line medications and compoundings. She usually comes in and evaluates the workload in terms of prior authorizations, patient calls, discharges, and medications. 

Livingston started pharmacy school in August of 2016 and began working for Kaiser Permanente Colorado as an operations pharmacy intern. A year later she began moonlighting at the VA in Denver in the formulary management as a volunteer. In June 2018 she then moved to a clinical position at Kaiser Permanente and in May of 2019, but she left to go do rotations.

Livingston ultimately decided to leave engineering because she did not enjoy the “lab bench research” involved in pharmaceutical development and she wanted more direct patient experience. Although she doesn’t work in the engineering field she says, ”I use the critical thinking skills I learned in school on a daily basis and it makes me a better pharmacist for my patients.” She also included, “The computing class I took the first year has allowed me to analyze data and build solutions in a way that few people in my field have the training to do.” 

Livingston said, as advice to current students in engineering, “The degree is not about teaching you the facts but rather learning to ask the critical why questions to get to the root cause of problems. These are core skills you will use regardless of the career you pursue. These are the reasons I stayed in engineering even after I realized I wasn’t destined for an engineering career. It has allowed me to thrive in pharmacy school and made me a better practitioner for the patients and health systems I serve. Engineering will push you to think critically, make you a master problem solver, and teach you how resilient you can be.”