PHARMACY Society of Australia representatives made a trip to Lugarno Pharmacy recently to present Jacky Hanh with a gold medal.
Mr Hahn, 22, the pharmacy intern, received the award for being the top student in his pharmacy university course.
"It involved a lot of late nights and coffee," Mr Hanh said when asked how he consistently maintained his top position for four years.
The fact he had an excellent mentor also helped.
For the past 18 months or so Mr Hanh has been travelling from Canley Vale to Warren Del-Grande's pharmacy.
While at uni he worked Saturday mornings and spent 38 hours a week at the pharmacy during his internship year.
Mr Del-Grande has been mentoring students for about 20 years and has a knack of picking the right ones to further their training at his pharmacy.
Several have stayed on after university and made a career at the pharmacy.
While Mr Hanh loves his job, he has an interest in drug design and plans to go back to university next year to complete his PhD.
As for that gold medal, it will come in handy.
"I can now apply for a better scholarship," he said.