International Women’s Day: A day in the life of…Fan Jin

Fan Jin
Covance China Bioanalytical Lab, and member of CBF Steering Committee.

Fan is Senior Director of Covance China Bioanalytical Lab, Shanghai, China. Fan received an MS in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, USA. She also has an MS from the School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA. Fan joined Covance China as Director of Bioanalytical Chemistry in 2008. She is responsible for LC–MS/MS and Immunochemistry within the BioA Lab. Fan built and developed a strong scientific team. She was instrumental in setting up the GLP compliant bioanalytical process in China and led the growth of the China lab in the past 9 years. Covance China BioA Lab is recognized as one of the top providers for Regulated Bioanalysis in Asia. As Test Facility Management of Bioanalytical Lab, Fan hosted multiple regulatory inspections including FDA, OECD and CFDA. Fan is also an active member of the Expert Committee of China Bioanalytical Forum (CBF).

Fan has over 11 years of experience with Pharmaceutical Companies and 10+ years with CROs. Before joining Covance, Fan was the VP of Operations at a small US CRO in Shanghai, where she managed the operation and growth of the laboratory including bioanalytical chemistry, pharmaceutical analysis and formulation development. Additionally, Fan has worked at Pfizer global R&D in Groton, CT and La Jolla, CA for 11 years with increased responsibilities. Fan has new drug development experience and excellent working knowledge in managing operations in China.

 1My alarm goes off…

I wake up and get ready to work. Then I take the shuttle bus to work and try to have simple and healthy breakfast.  I usually check my Outlook calendar in the morning and plan ahead for the day.

< Back to International Women’s Day 2018 – Celebrating women in STEM

2I’m responsible for…

I am responsible for LC–MS/MS and Immunochemistry group at Covance China BioA Lab. I work at Covance Shanghai, leading a group of 80 Bioanalytical scientists, and I have several group managers reporting to me. I am an active member of Covance Global Bioanalytical Leadership team.

3My typical day…

I join with our Business Development colleagues to help host client visits; we explain our capability and scientific expertise and provide solutions to our client’s new drug development program. Our team has developed bioanalytical methods for small molecule and large molecule drug candidates, and supported preclinical and clinical studies. I have regular meetings with scientific teams/operations on the status of projects. As Test Facility Management, I also have regular meetings with supporting functions such as HR, Finance and Facility.

4The best part of my job…

I am very excited when our client’s new drug candidates are approved for China or global market, as it will help save patient’s lives or improve their life quality. I am also very happy when our team receives recognition from clients.

5The worst part of my job…

Working in an emerging market and in the CRO industry, sometimes we receive last minute requests which could add lot of stress to our team.

6After work…

I need to reply to emails in the evening if I have client visits or regulatory inspections during the day. As I work for a global company, I sometimes have evening Teleconferences with the US and UK colleagues. I take a walk after dinner or exercise at home, read books and listen to music. I like to travel with my family in the summer or during Christmas/New Year holidays or go shopping or go to the movie or a concert with my family or friends.

 7I always wanted to be…

When I was a child, I wanted to be a doctor.

Who is your inspirational hero?

 Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. I really like her book ‘LEAN IN, Women, Work, and The Will to lead’.