San Francisco: Gilead Sciences and Meta

Today we had two exciting site visits at unique, well-established companies. The first company we learned about is called Gilead Sciences. I was especially interested in this particular site visit because of its industry, goals, and operations. As a Healthcare Administration major, I was excited to see that Gilead Sciences focuses on producing innovative and life-changing drugs for people with different types of illnesses and diseases. Something that the CFO of Gilead mentioned was that the company is "patient-focused," which is something that I highly value and appreciate, considering the difficulties that many people face with accessing healthcare services. Something unique that we did was to connect and have discussions with current Gilead rotational program participants. I found this visit to be extremely helpful because we were able to have one-on-one opportunities to speak with those entering the biopharmaceutical industry. From this experience, I was able to make deeper connections and gain the opportunity to discuss shared interests in healthcare. I enjoyed getting to know Gilead employees, and I am confident that they enjoyed the experience interacting with us as well!

 

The other site visit that we had today was with Meta, and I really enjoyed the creative team's presentation on their strategies and operations in marketing and advertisement. As a marketing major, it was great to see a group of people who are truly passionate about what they do. Something that I liked about this presentation were the interactions between the presenters. They all seemed like a great group of friends simply having a conversation with each other. I was impressed with the accomplishments that each person achieved, and I truly felt motivated when they discussed furthering their education and skillset. I benefitted a lot from this site visit, and I have since gained a newfound interest for digital marketing. Meta's creative team works hard, and I can see their work shine through from each descriptive example provided.

 

Overall, this has been an amazing day with wonderful site visits. I truly enjoyed the last day of meeting companies with two of my favorite presentations from this week. I am proud to call myself a Loyola student because of all the great things our community of alumni have accomplished in recent years. They provide us with motivation, advice, and a passion for innovation. I am so thankful for having the opportunity to be a part of this journey with a great group of people, and I hope to continue the insightful conversations that I had with my new connections from this week in the near future.