A special message from the AAPS president.
By Joseph W. Polli, Ph.D., FAAPS, President
The AAPS Board of Directors is continuously thinking about the people affected by COVID-19—those who are fighting the disease or have loved ones fighting the disease, and those whose everyday lives are affected by the widespread precautionary measures. Many of us are still at work, developing and producing much-needed therapies, or even working on potential COVID-19 treatments. And many of us are home-based for the next few weeks.
If you are working from home, I encourage you to take advantage of AAPS’ online resources to continue conversations and grow professionally.
The AAPS Communities are an easy way to have conversations with peers across the country and around the world. You can participate in as many communities as you would like; I’m actually in twelve—each is related to my career, research focus, or role in AAPS leadership. Many of the community conversations are focused on challenges I see at work, like the origin and validity of using 2‒11% as the false positive classifications range when testing study samples, and updates on voluntary recalls of medicines containing angiotensin II receptor blockers.
There are also many conversations about general topics that affect pharmaceutical scientists. Check out this great thread about shifting from a work office to a home office. Maggie McMullen, chair of the AAPS Career Development Committee, recommends setting clear boundaries to avoid work bleeding into home life. Steven Louie, chair of the Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, & Drug Metabolism Community, schedules mini-breaks—what a great idea and a great way to connect to other AAPS members! I would love to read about your experiences and recommendations as well.
AAPS’ dedicated member volunteers are diligently working on the 2020 AAPS PharmSci 360, which will be held October 25‒28 in New Orleans. As of now, we have no reason to cancel or modify this event. In fact, I know I’ll be ready to travel, learn about what’s been going on in the pharmaceutical sciences, and catch up with many of you at my favorite meeting of the year. You can now register for PharmSci 360, knowing that the Board of Directors has committed to refunding every registration if we are forced to cancel because of COVID-19. I encourage you to go ahead and register now for this essential meeting.
While on one of your mini-breaks, take the time to brainstorm relevant PharmSci 360 topics and submit a programming proposal. Remember that the PharmSci 360 Scientific Programming Committee added a new track this year—Discovery and Basic Research—so the conference’s programming will cover the full discovery to development pipeline. Do you feel like your scientific community needs to share more information, data, or research on a specific topic? Do you have an idea for a session? Submit a programming proposal—getting your idea to the Scientific Programming Committee helps us build a strong program that’s of interest to our members.
By October, scientists will be ready to share their research and learn about what others have been doing. While you are at home, go ahead and work on your PharmSci 360 poster abstract, too. There are so many ways to prepare for PharmSci 360, and now is a great time to get started.
As of now, we are postponing two of our upcoming workshops: the AAPS CMC Regulatory Exchange Forum and Crystal City VII. The new dates and locations of those events will be updated on the AAPS website.
We are still planning to hold the Land O’ Lakes Conferences in Madison, Wisc. Register now for the 21st Annual Bioanalytical Conference, July 13–16, or the 60th Annual Pharmaceutical Analysis Conference, August 10–13.
I urge you to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for social distancing. Taking advantage of AAPS’ online resources and preparing for PharmSci 360 in October are great ways to further your professional development and continue contributing to the body of science while preventing the spread of COVID-19. Please let me know if there are any other programs or events you would like to see online. And remember to post a short message to your colleagues in your AAPS Communities today during one of your mini-breaks.
Stay healthy and safe!