Held in Chicago, the 53rd edition of the DIA conference themed “Driving Insights to Action” will welcome over 7,000 global life science leaders from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. Offering more than 160 sessions, DIA 2017 will cover essential topics including: Big Data/eHealth, Medical Affairs & Scientific Communication, Patient Engagement, Strategic Planning and Executive Partnerships, and more.
For another year, Slone Partners, executive search firm specializing in recruiting talent for the life sciences, diagnostics, clinical trials, CRO, therapeutics, healthcare IT, and laboratory testing industries will be in attendance. This conference is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to network with industry professionals, share insights on the latest trends, and discuss solutions to overcome current industry challenges.
With so many compelling talks, panel discussions, and learning sessions, selecting which event to attend can be challenging. Slone Partners has narrowed down the options and presents its list of The 10 Must See Talks at DIA 2017.
1. The Future of Patient Engagement: Measuring What Matters
Monday, June 19 • 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM | Track: DIAmond
In this DIAmond session, patient, industry, and regulatory stakeholders will share their perspectives on today’s meaning of effective engagement and what the future state of patient engagement will look like. Panelists will discuss what they believe should be the outcomes of their investments of effort and how we can engage patients to identify the outcomes that matter most. The idea of “return on engagement” will be explored: how do we measure what matters? And can we build a future state in which achieving what matters most to the patient is the measure of our success?
Speakers: Debra Lappin, JD, Head, Health Biosciences Practice, FaegreBD Consulting, Anne C. Beal, MD, MPH, Senior VP, Chief Patient Officer and Global Head of Patient Centricity, Sanofi, Juan Garcia-Burgos, MD, Head of Public Engagement Department (Ad Interim), European Medicines Agency, European Union, K. Kimberly McCleary, Managing Director, FasterCures, A Center of the Milken Institute, Paul Kluetz, MD, Associate Director for Patient Outcomes (Acting), OCE, FDA, and Ronald Joseph Bartek, MA, Co-Founder/Founding President, Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA).
2. Leveraging Wearables and Sensors in Clinical Trials and mHealth
Monday, June 19 • 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM | Track: Disruptive Innovation
This session explores the implementation of wearables and sensors within clinical trials and mHealth programs. Reporting work of the C-PATH ePRO Consortium, the speakers identify suitable evidence that could be considered to support the selection of wearable devices and the validity of endpoints derived from wearables data in clinical trials. This session explores practical considerations for wearable and sensor use in beyond-the-pill mHealth programs. Finally, it examines the experience of one pharmaceutical company in transitioning wearables from pilot evaluations to implementation in trials and mHealth programs.
Speakers: Bill Byrom, PhD, Senior Director of Product Innovation, and Vice Director of ePRO Consortium, ICON, plc., Daragh Ryan, eClinical and mHealth Consultant, Cliniphy, and Chris Watson, PhD, Director of Product Strategy, ERT and Director of Product Strategy, Exco InTouch.
3. Interactive Storytelling and Personal Health Data Drives Unprecedented Patient Empowerment
Monday, June 19 • 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM | Track: Keynote
In this keynote, Mr. Tsiaras tells the personal stories of diseases, the power of patient data, and interactive experiences to drive greater patient engagement. He’ll share tales of empowered patients and how they, along with enlightened researchers, drove these insights into action.
Speaker: Alexander Tsiaras, Editor and Founder/CEO of theVisualMD LLC
4. Effective Team Management in Global Trials
Tuesday, June 20 • 9:30 AM – 10:30 | Track: Regulatory
Global drug development has long been an accepted practice and expectation for clinical research success. Despite the proliferation of technology and other industry innovations, success or failure still depends on a high performing team. Teams are increasingly spread out across the globe and in many cases working remotely which further challenges communication and direct collaboration. Still other challenges emerge when project teams are potentially comprised of representatives from the sponsor, contract research organizations (CROs) and independent contractors. This session will examine the role of the study start-up process, how to spot the early warning signs of dysfunction and practical strategies for how to best align and engage the global team.
Speaker: Peter A. DiBiaso, MHA, Global Vice President, Managing Director, QuintilesIMS
5. Serving the Patient Who Needs Early Access to Treatment and Achieving Meaningful Outcomes
Tuesday, June 20 • 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM | Track: Special Populations
As most rare diseases have no approved therapies, these patient populations are frequently desperate for any kind of treatment. As a result, they request earlier and more extensive access to investigational drugs before many of the safety and dosing questions have been addressed. This could result in erroneously high adverse event profiles or subjective benefits that skew the development program. How do we better define how to broaden access while simultaneously maintaining rigid control of the data?
Speakers: Stella C.F. Blackburn, MD, MA, MSc, FFPM, FISPE, FRCP, Vice President, Global Head of Risk Management, QuintilesIMS, Richard Scheyer, MD, Vice President, Medical Affairs, Medpace, and June S. Wasser, MA, Executive Director, Reagan-Udall Foundation For the FDA.
6. Big Data: Current and Emerging Technologies
Tuesday, June 20 • 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM | Track: Big Data/ eHealth
This session will cover scalable and expandable big data infrastructures; cloud, outsourcing, and remote monitoring. It will discuss how big data and new technology can be used to enhance patient experience, manage outcomes, and enhance research.
Speakers: David Kiger, Vice President, Product Strategy, PAREXEL, Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President Oncology, Flatiron Health, and Mildred Menos, MA, Director of Project Management, The Life Raft Group.
7. Breaking Down the Wall for Global Regulators to Leverage Real World Data
Tuesday, June 20 • 4:00 PM – 5:15 PM | Track: Value and Access
This forum will present global perspectives on the use of real world evidence for drug and device regulatory decision making including postmarket surveillance, fast track or acceleration programs, conditional approval programs.
Speakers: Duane Schulthess, MBA, Managing Director, VitalTransformation, Radek Wasiak, PhD, MSc, Vice President and General Manager, Real World Evidence, Evidera, Sebastian Schneeweiss, DrSc, MD, Professor, Department of Epidemiology, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Alison Cave, PhD, Principal Scientific Administrator, European Medicines Agency, European Union, and Nicola Bedlington, Secretary General, European Patients Forum.
8. International Regulatory Convergence
Wednesday, June 21 • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Track: DIAmond
Senior leadership professionals from international regulatory agencies will discuss the latest on multi and bilateral initiatives to avoid duplication and increase mutual reliance, strategic governance, and their impact on industry.
Speakers: Agnès Saint-Raymond, MD, Head of Portfolio Board, European Medicines Agency, European Union, Guido Rasi, MD, Executive Director, European Medicines Agency, European Union, Dara Corrigan, JD, Associate Commissioner for Global Regulatory Policy, FDA, Tatsuya Kondo, MD, PhD, Chief Executive, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), Ian Hudson, MD, FFPM, FRCP, Chief Executive, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Lorraine Nolan, PhD, Vice-Chair of the ICMRA; Chief Executive, Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), Jarbas Barbosa, MD, PhD, ICMRA Project Lead; Director- President, Agência Nacional De Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA), and Pierre Sabourin, MBA, Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Health Canada.
9. Measuring and Advancing the Clinical Quality Management System
Wednesday, June 21• 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM | Track: Quality
Presenters will discuss various options for evaluating the maturity (i.e. effectiveness and efficiency) of a clinical quality management system. Methods for determining the course of actions and priorities will also be reviewed.
Speaker: Robert Studt, Head of Quality Analytics, BioResearch Quality & Compliance, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and Mary Fleres, Senior Manager, Quality Management Services, Allergan.
10. Evolving Clinical Trial Guidance and Regulations: Am I Ready?
Thursday, June 22 • 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM | Track: Clinical and Pre-Clinical Product Development
This session will include an overview of the ICH E6 addendum and EU Clinical Trial Regulation 536/2014 and a practical demonstration of how to perform an impact assessment to existing processes and procedures.
Speaker: Liz Wool, BSN, Global Head of Training, Barnett International and Mary Mills, RN, President, Mary Mills & Associates, LLC.
To learn more on how to bring on the best talent to your organization or to schedule a meeting at DIA 2017, please contact Slone Partners.
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