Next Up: Making Medicines More Affordable

Aneitra Viney, a former patient care associate, wanted a career where she could give back. Thanks to Brightpoint, she connected with a profession that does just that: pharmaceutical manufacturing, and she became a part of an effort in the region to make life-saving medicines more affordable and accessible for Americans. After completing a career studies certificate in pharmaceutical manufacturing in less than seven months, Aneitra joined Civica, a Brightpoint and CCWA partner in the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, where she maintains product quality in manufacturing lower-cost generic drugs. 

Here’s how Aneitra reformulated her career path:

Seek to Make a Difference

“Being able to give back to people less fortunate was really big for me in choosing this profession,” Aneitra said. “The most fulfilling aspect of my job is knowing that I'm helping someone by contributing to their health and wellness and making medicines more affordable.”

The pharmaceutical manufacturing program is a state- and federally funded initiative to help regional partners in business, education, government and the nonprofit sector restore America’s pharmaceutical stockpile and scale up production of affordable essential medicines.

As a quality floor shop associate, Aneitra maintains the standard operating procedures, the rulebooks for how to make products, and crosschecks them with drugs being manufactured on the shop floor.

“We review batch records and ensure all logbooks are accurately filled out. After the product is completed, we visually examine it to check for any impurities, scratches or debris,” Aneitra said. “Even on the job, I refer back to my textbooks to enhance my knowledge about certain processes, like identifying particulate matter or performing visual inspections. The average person doesn’t have a manual on their job, but I do.”

Collaborate for Success

As part of the program, Aneitra completed an internship in Dr. Cornelia Kavungo-Johnson’s lab, for which she wrote standard operating procedures, including one on the centrifuge, which spins and separates mixtures into their various components.

“I documented each step for operating the centrifuge, following the manual closely," Aneitra explained. "My internship was crucial in helping me fully comprehend the fundamentals of my current work.”

According to Aneitra, the classroom environment at Brightpoint fostered collaboration and support among her classmates.

“Study sessions were a regular occurrence,” Aneitra said. “We’d arrive early if we needed help, share our notes, and collaborate on tasks.”

As a testament to their teamwork, four of Aneitra’s former classmates are now her colleagues at Civica.

“My time at Brightpoint exceeded my expectations in every way,” Aneitra said. “As someone who had never worked in the pharmaceutical field before, the knowledge and skills I gained at Brightpoint were invaluable for this type of job.”