125 stories for 125 years

Jennifer Marty

Dr Jennifer Marty (nee Frewin) was the 1970 Gold Medallist and in 1978 she became the first person to receive the Doctor of Pharmacy. This was a research degree established and funded by the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria in 1973 for its members. It was conferred by the society, now known as the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (Victorian branch), following the formation of the national body in 1976.

In 1968 the college was granted the ability to award degrees. This allowed students, for the first time, to go on to research and further studies. From that moment this became one of Jenny’s goals. She was one of the first students to graduate with a Master of Pharmacy in 1975. Later, as a postgraduate student, she was used as a test case to challenge the government funding system, which did not award Commonwealth Postgraduate Scholarships outside universities. Although the initial application prepared by Geoff Vaughan on her behalf was unsuccessful, it drew attention to the existing anomalies and inequities and eventually led to changes, with postgraduate students becoming eligible for these scholarships.

After completing her postgraduate studies, Jenny worked in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for four years. From there, she went into the pharmaceutical industry; firstly with the Institute of Drug Technology Australia Ltd between 1983 and 1990, followed by a year at Glaxo. In 1992 she joined Amgen Australia as one of its founding senior executives. She was the Director of Scientific Affairs until 1998 and then became the Director of Sales and Marketing. Since 2004 she has worked as a consultant to pharmaceutical and Australian biotech companies in the field of drug development and commercialisation.