Collective Resiliency Makes Us Stronger

AAPS Members and Partners Support Each Other and the Scientific Community-at-Large

By Joseph W. Polli, Ph.D., FAAPS, President

Experiments halted; PhD defenses postponed; conference travel cancelled; laboratories shuttered. In the face of drastic change, our resilience as individuals, scientists, team members and/or leaders is continually being tested as we manage the impact COVID-19 has had on pharmaceutical research. On top of managing our professional work, many of us carry concerns for loved ones and/or have family that require our attention. Despite this compounding pressure, AAPS members continue to put forth wide-spread support for one another by sharing valuable tips on how to thrive in adverse times, engaging in relevant scientific discussions, and even becoming directly involved in ongoing COVID-19 programming efforts. Here is a summary of recent AAPS online programming and what you can look forward to in June as a means to stay connected with each other.

AAPS recognizes the value of having a scientific community you can turn to and the desire to satisfy a need to stay abreast of current research in the pharmaceutical sciences. As AAPS members, the AAPS Communities are an ideal place to engage in discussions on a myriad of pharmaceutical topics and a way to provide support for one other. In recent weeks, the Women in Pharmaceutical Science community has held numerous presentations and discussions on Coping with Work-Life Balance During COVID-19 with helpful tips to manage your day between home. well and home (home-home balance!). In fact, the resulting Work-Life Balance infographic is featured in this issue. Visit our social media to share it with friends and colleagues. The PPDM Community has been hosting morning coffee calls on Fridays to expand their personal network and talk among colleagues. Finally, we recently launched the AAPS Regulatory Sciences Community where members are discussing all aspects of drug development.

If you have the desire to connect with colleagues, now is an excellent time to check-in, brainstorm, or share an opinion. AAPS is hosting a virtual career workshop June 1–4 on Career Planning: Navigating the Job Market Today, which will provide sessions and collaborative events for pharmaceutical scientists at all career stages—even mine! We will learn about promoting ourselves to potential employers, pitching our skill set to head of a new research project, sharpening interviewing skills, managing mid-career changes, and my favorite amid our current work-from-home culture, communicating clearly in online meetings and presentations.

The effort made today to make an introduction or engage in discussion can lead to professional connections in the future. For more on this topic, you can read the Career Success article in which one AAPS member reminds us that empathy is a learned skill, both valuable and necessary for our career development.

In the wider scope, efforts by AAPS’ Sustaining Partners give a glimpse into the persistent work being done for COVID-19 vaccinations and accurate testing. Here are a few highlights:

Abbvie is in stage 2 clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.^[1]
AstraZeneca and Oxford University have teamed together resulting in a phase 1/2 study.^[2]
A 10 million dollar donation was made by Merck to support COVID-19 affected communities.^[3]
Pfizer and Lonza are among the leaders in vaccine research for COVID-19.^[4]^,[5]
Roche has made it a priority to put forth the most accurate test possible.^[6]
Already, Sanofi has committed to producing millions of vaccines.^[7]

On June 29, we kick off the third portion of the AAPS COVID-19 workshop series. This series began in April and AAPS members have access to the recordings from the past workshops. On top of this, eChalk Talks are a place to connect every Wednesday at 11:15 am ET. The next few talks touch on topics such as development and commercialization of a serology assay for COVID-19, SORS technology, antibody titer assays and quantitative qPCR tests.

At a time like this, I know I am not alone in recognizing how significant the research done by our members is to the world. Please continue to share your thoughts, comments, and questions with each other. There are vibrant discussions taking place and plenty of webinars to stay up to date with your area of expertise, right from home.

Thank you for the efforts you are putting forth for the scientific community-at-large and your fellow colleagues at AAPS.