We missed you! Based on our "year over year" attendance numbers as compared to other conferences this year to date, we have learned that when people have been told that they can only go to one conference this year, so far they have preferred ACRP/APPI.
Whatever your reason was for missing, please know that you can go to the ACRP website (www.acrpnet.org) and purchase the online library of the conference. While you cannot replace the networking opportunities and the overall exciting vibe the conference has instilled in people, you can still benefit from much of the educational content. As far as our keynotes…..At the Louis M. Sherwood Memorial Lecture, we heard Dr. Tom Stossell (older brother of John Stossell of legendary newsshow 20/20 and well known columnist in his own right) talk to us about the "pharmascolds" and how we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater when addressing money in healthcare/research. We heard Dr. Jon Perlin of HCA give us the state if the union of healthcare delivery and a glimpse of what it will look like in the next ten years highlighting how clinical researchers will play a role in that development of that new system and the new research opportunities that will be presented in the “learning health system” of the future. Many people came up to me and stated that his message was very eye-opening, powerful and appreciated. We saw Eva Moses-Kor, a survivor of Dr. Mengele’s experimentation of twins at Auschwitz, look us all dead in the eye and tell us “don’t ever treat your human beings as guinea pigs” and to always keep in mind that research is never for the benefit of science but for the benefit of mankind. There were few dry eyes during her presentation and it certainly resonated as people waiting hours in line for a book signing and talked about it throughout the day. We also heard Dr. Bert Spilker, a well renown industry expert, give us his “Spilkerisms” on the product development process which offer nontraditional thinking on avoiding pitfalls in our industry. These keynote addresses and many of the excellent concurrent sessions will be available to you through the online library.
We hope to see you in Tampa next year (April 23-27). You can go to http://acrp2010.org/acrp2010/public/enter.aspx for more information.