DIA 2015 Sneak Peek

This year’s Drug Info Association (DIA) annual conference is coming up in two weeks in DC, and I’m excited for four days of education, networking, and great conversations.

As usual, the line up of speakers is top notch, so it’s been tough to try to plan on what to attend without feeling like I’m missing out on things. In terms of topic areas, I’m focusing this year on information/document management, of course, but also augmenting that with sessions on social media, knowledge management, digitization, and continuous improvement…all of which require a solid information/document management foundation to be successful. And beyond these, I found a few promising sessions that focus on the more organizational dimensions of drug development effectiveness.

In case you’re planning to attend and are looking for advice on what to see, here are the sessions (along with the speakers and topics for each) that I’m planning to attend:

Evolving Your Regulatory Information Management Strategy to Meet the Changing Business Environment – Monday 6/15, 11:00 – 12:00

Adapting Business Process to Support Global RIMS
Michelle L. Charles, MPH, Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs, Merck & Co., Inc.

Lean Six Sigma For Delivering High-Velocity RIMS Strategies
Christopher P Hanna, PhD, PMP, Principal, Kattner-Thalmann Partners

Social Media: Opportunities and Challenges in Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Research – Tuesday 6/16, 8:00 – 9:30

Social Media: Impact on Clinical Studies
Alexis Reisin Miller, JD, Senior Director, Regulatory Policy and Intelligence, Eisai Inc.

Digital Drug Safety
Carrie E. Pierce, MBA, Senior Project Manager, Epidemico

Social Media Analytics
Martin Harvey Allchurch, LLM, International Affairs, European Medicines Agency

Better Team Performance in Drug Development: Effective Relationship Building Across Cultures, Especially the West and Asia – Tuesday 6/16, 10:30 – 12:00

PANEL
Atsushi Tsukamoto, PhD, MSc, PMP, Senior Director, Global Project Management, Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.
Robert A. Hilke, MA, Chief Executive Officer, Hilke Communications Corporation
Gareth Julian Monteath, MBA, MS, Program Director, Link Global Solution Inc.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation in Manufacturing Approaches – Tuesday 6/16, 1:30 – 3:00

A Transformational Approach to Development, Manufacturing and Distribution
Michael K O’Brien, PhD, Vice President, Leadership, Pharmaceutical Science, Technology and Innovation, Pfizer Inc

Return On Investment from Manufacturing Technology Innovation: Opportunities and Realities
Andrew Mark Buswell, PhD, MBA, Head of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, GlaxoSmithKline

Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Regulatory Opportunities and Challenges
Stephanie Krogmeier, PhD, RPh, Senior Director, Global CMC Regulatory Affairs Strategy, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Bringing Clinical Trial Practices into the 21st Century – Tuesday 6/16, 3:30 – 5:00

The Mobile Health Care Continuum: From Clinical Research to mHealth…and Back
Judith Teall, RN, Exco InTouch

Bringing Clinical Trial Practices into the 21st Century
Cecilia Tran-Muchowski, Senior Clinical Program Manager, Gilead Sciences, Inc.

Nursing and Adherence Strategies to Increase Patient Engagement
Jennifer M Allen, BSN, MBA, Senior Manager, Client Engagement, UBC: An Express Scripts Company

20/20 Foresight: Patient Recruitment in 2025
Matthew Stumm, Strategic Branding & Advertising, BBK Worldwide

Keys to Managing a Successful Regulatory Strategy and Submission – Wednesday 6/17, 8:00 – 9:30

Targeted Labeling Is the Key to Your Marketing Application Strategy
Diana E Bytnar Fordyce, PhD, MS, RAC, Regulations Pharmaceuticals Consultant

Seven Recommendations for Building a Better NDA
Jeff Antos, Vice President, The Weinberg Group Inc.

Questions to Consider Before Assembling Your eCTD
Robert Rohde, Head of Submissions, Pharmakey LLC

Digitization of Clinical Trials: Check the Pulse on Bringing Benefits to Patients – Wednesday 6/17, 10:30 – 12:00

Potential ROIs of eConsent: Patient Enrollment, Engagement, Retention and Compliance
Eric Delente, MA, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, Enforme

The Rise of Mobile and Digital Health Care: Let’s Tell the Patients
Judith Teall, RN, Exco InTouch

The Electronic Investigator Site File: What’s In It For the Patient?
Betsy Fallen, RN, Principal, BAFallen Consulting, LLC

Knowledge Management for the Product Life Cycle – Wednesday 6/17, 3:30 – 5:00

Recommendations for a Streamlined, Global Assessment of CMC Changes and Optimized Dossier Preparation Process
Kim S. Northam, Associate Manager, Regulatory Affairs, Accenture

Compliance and Change Control: Checking That the Manufacture/CMC is Maintained in Accord With the Terms of the License
Peter Lassoff, PharmD, Vice President and Head, Global Regulatory Affairs, Quintiles Inc.

Opportunities for Industry
Paige Kane, Director, Knowledge Management, Pfizer Inc

Tired of Reinvesting in Old R&D Systems? Several Large Pharmaceutical Companies and Other Leaders Are Flipping Paradigms – Thursday 6/18, 9:00 – 10:30

Context Setting: Why the Industry Needs to Rethink the R&D IT Paradigm
Jonathan Burr, Accenture Life Sciences | Accelerated Research & Development Services

A Case Study in Life Sciences Cloud Implementation
Sandra Tremps, MS, Global Leader, Clinical, Regulatory, and Safety IT, Merck & Co., Inc.

The Final Word

Ok, so those are my picks for what not to miss at DIA this year. Feel free to jump in and share what you’re most excited about, and let’s get the conversation started!