From the President's Desk

Dear ISPE Colleagues,
 
I wanted to update you all on many exciting activities occurring within the ISPE community:
 
38th ISPE Annual Meeting: As we enter the month of June, anticipation is building for the upcoming 38th International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology & Therapeutic Risk Management (ICPE) from 24-28 August in Copenhagen, Denmark. After two years of primarily virtual meetings, we are all very excited to meet in person, see old friends, meet new colleagues, and hear about the latest pharmacoepidemiology science. Under the leadership of Scientific Program Chairs, Anton Pottegård and Jesper Hallas, and the ICPE Scientific Program Committee, a terrific program has been created for those attending the meeting in person. Given continued challenges in travel, there will be a number of virtual components also available. We were very thrilled to hear that 1,731 abstracts were submitted for consideration this year, which I think shows the desire of so many members to meet in person.
 
2022 Virtual Mid-Year Meeting: This past 12-13 April, ISPE pivoted from a traditional Mid-Year Meeting to a conference focused on our student and trainee members. Through the amazing vision of Program Chairs, Almut Winterstein and Scott Vouri, and Student Council Chairs, Sebi Jugl and Miyuki Hsieh, 189 ISPE members at an early-stage of their career heard from panels of leaders in our field discussions about “What a Well Trained Pharmacoepidemiologist Should Look Like in 2030,” “Essential Skills for the Next Generation of Pharmacoepidemiologists,” and “Do's and Don'ts in Landing the Perfect Position in Pharmacoepidemiology.” Some attendees presented at a “Job Talks” session, where they practiced for job interviews by providing background about themselves and their future career goals and presented the body of their research and research interests as a whole. The feedback provided helped to sharpen their interview skills. There was also a Career Fair featuring employer roundtables with representatives from organizations and institutions seeking to hire new talent in pharmacoepidemiology. The Mid-Year meeting will resume its normal format in 2023, but given the overwhelming positive response by the attendees and the ways in which it enriched their skills and built expertise, which remains a critical mission to our Society, the ISPE Board will consider repeating this meeting on a regular basis separate from the Mid-Year Meeting.
 
Second Annual African Regional Interest Group Meeting: Under the leadership of Program Co-Chairs, Kwame Appenteng and Irene Murimi-Worstell, the second annual ISPE African Regional Interest Group (RIG) Meeting will take place virtually from 11-13 July. This conference will continue ISPE’s collaboration with our colleagues within the Medicines Utilisation Research in Africa (MURIA) group and will include educational sessions as well oral and poster abstract presentations from members across the African continent. The continued growth and success of this meeting highlights how our Society continues to build membership, provide expertise in the use of real-world data, and promote pharmacoepidemiology science in more regions.
 
14th Asian Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology: Planning is well underway for ISPE’s 14th Asian Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology (ACPE) from 21-23 October in Tainan, Taiwan. Under the leadership of International Steering Chair, Soko Setoguchi-Iwata, Scientific Program Chair, Yea-Huei Kao Yang, and the entire ACPE Steering Committee, a wonderful program is being planned, so please mark your calendars.
 
New Awards: Under the leadership of Fellowship & Awards Chair, Olaf Klungel, two new awards were created this year to highlight our members’ contribution to the field. First, a special ISPE award was created for ISPE members’ meritorious Contributions to Public Health Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic. Second, a new award in memory of Judith K. Jones was created to recognize up to two ISPE members making a demonstratable impact on public health through work in pharmacoepidemiology. The winners of these awards will be announced at the 38th ICPE.
 
Upcoming Webinars: Our Committees, Councils, SIGs, RIGs, and Real-World Evidence Task Force continue to develop and deliver valuable webinars open to our membership. The ISPE Education Committee recently hosted webinars on: “Using Individual Case Safety Reports in FAERS for Regulatory Decision Making,” “Next Generation Registries: Innovation, Best Practices, and Use Cases,” and “Building Trust in Reliably Synthesizing Evidence from Non-Randomized Studies and RCTs in Healthcare Decision Making; a proposed ISPE Framework.” ISPE's Student Council held a webinar on “Immeasurable Time Bias in Pharmacoepidemiologic Studies.” The Africa RIG recently hosted a webinar titled “Epidemiology and Real-World Evidence for Medical Device Evaluation: Considerations for Africa.” The Real-World Evidence Task Force hosted webinars on “Real-World Data Sources and Advanced Methods in Oncology,” “Using Real World Data to Examine Long-term Safety and Effectiveness,” and “Real-World Evidence to Support Regulatory Decision-Making.” Members can access these and other ISPE webinars by clicking here.
 
Upcoming webinars include:
  • On 24 June, the ISPE Membership is hosting a webinar titled “Understanding Your Leadership Voice and Communication Style” to enhance understanding of members’ unique leadership styles and to promote ways to apply this style to personal and institutional interactions. Click here to register.
  • On 6 October, the Geriatric Pharmacoepidemiology SIG is hosting "Is There a Role for Pharmacoepidemiology in Deprescribing Research?" which will introduce deprescribing research and discuss challenges and opportunities surrounding the use of pharmacoepidemiology methodology and real-world data in addressing deprescribing-related clinically relevant questions of importance for patients and their caregivers.
 
Working to Advance ISPE’s Strategic Plan 2024: ISPE continues to work to advance the actions of our Strategic Plan 2024 in four main areas: 1) Build ISPE membership and increase member involvement, 2) Promote ISPE externally, 3) Build pharmacoepidemiology expertise and promote advancement of pharmacoepidemiology science, and 4) Ensure long-term governance and financial stability of our Society. To this end, a number of activities have been undertaken over the last several months:
 
  • The Finance Committee, led by Wei Zhou and Caitlin Knox, sent out a funding opportunity announcement on 7 March to leaders of ISPE’s Committees, Councils, SIGs, RIGs, and Real-World Evidence Task Force for initiatives that would support the ISPE Strategic Plan 2024. The rationale was to promote the development of new ideas from ISPE groups at a grass-roots level. Proposals are now being reviewed by the ISPE Strategic Planning Committee.
  • The Real-World Evidence Task Force, led by Helga Gardarsdottir and Donna Rivera, in collaboration with the Task Force Subcommittee Chairs, has been working to identify important entities with whom to promote strategic collaborations that will be important to advancing ISPE’s mission.
  • The Public Policy Committee, led by Meredith Smith and Susan dosReis, led the evaluation of ISPE’s annual Manuscript Initiative this past fall and has worked throughout the year to create a new subcommittee devoted to horizon scanning for issues worthy of advocacy by the Society.
  • The Publications and Communications Committee, under the leadership of Juan Hincapie-Castillo and Joan Largent, has been exploring re-branding of our Society’s meetings to harmonize the messaging behind these important activities.
  • The Membership Committee, led by Emily Brouwer and Rohini Mathur, has been examining the Society’s membership to identify ways to enhance involvement. The Membership Committee and Global Development Committee (led by Arnold Chan) are collaborating on ways to grow our membership across new regions.
  • The Education Committee, led by Judy Maro and Debbie Layton, have been organizing a superb list of ICPE pre-conference courses for the upcoming meeting in Copenhagen and have led the organization of the Society’s webinars and Education Center (available to all members here) to advance our members knowledge of pharmacoepidemiology methods.
  • The ISPE Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Tobi Gerhard (President-Elect), led a new Call for Volunteers for ISPE’s Committees, Councils, SIGs, and RIGs, and plans to re-issue a new call this July, facilitating the involvement of our members. Additionally, two of the committee’s members who are also members of the Society’ Board of Directors, Mary Beth Ritchey and Ursula Kirchmayer, led the onboarding of new leaders of the Society to empower them to maximize their leadership potential and advance our strategic plan from within our Society’s communities.
 
As you can see, the above activities ensure that our Society’s is aligned towards advancing ISPE strategic mission in a strong manner. I look forward to continuing to work with our members to advance these goals.
 
I hope to see you in Copenhagen this August!
 
Best Wishes,
Vin Lo Re, FISPE
President, ISPE

ISPE
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