Dear AAPS members–
I returned to my desk today with the once again familiar sore feet and buzzing brain of a scientist who has just come from a great meeting! My heart and mind are filled with the richness of our week in Philadelphia, where we gathered in person for the first time in two years to exchange our science at PharmSci 360.
What a week it was! I am equal parts humbled, grateful, and excited that we were able to bring so many of our members and partners together safely to enjoy scientific exchange, discussion, and camaraderie. While we were gathering in Philadelphia, our online program allowed scientists around the world to participate in virtual exchanges across time zones, far distances, and closed borders. The #PharmSci360 hashtag on social media lit up and buzzed devices across the world with posts from plenaries, poster forums, symposia, hallway discussions, receptions, and all the events happening in the Solution Center, including our new Circle 360 stage and Speaker Spotlights.
There was an extra level of energy at the meeting this week. You could sense the smiles behind our ubiquitous masks and see the enthusiastic fist bumps and elbow rubs between old pals. It underlined how much we have missed the happy randomness of running into colleagues and friends we had not seen in such a long time. The scientific exchange was energetic, and in many sessions, moderators, and presenters-whose recorded presentations were released online last week-were able to put extra emphasis on dialog and discussion, which many of us joined with enthusiasm.
I especially enjoyed moderating in the Manufacturing and Analytical Characterization Track. I am thankful to @Nathan Ihle for being such a good conversation partner in telling the story of his highly complex antibody-drug-conjugate modality.
As tempting as it is to write my personal "best of" list of sessions, events, and conversations from the meeting, I will not do so because it would far exceed the boundaries of my weekly notes to you. I must mention a couple of moments, however.
It was a joy to participate in the annual Mentoring Breakfast and start my day with great conversations with the next generation of young leaders in pharmaceutical science. I was thrilled to see every single table filled and humming with dialog, and I am grateful to the experienced colleagues who joined me in sharing what we've learned in our careers.
The conversations at the Mentoring Breakfast tied in well with several other career development discussions at PharmSci 360 that focused on non-traditional career paths. Our field keeps changing! The career choices one must make are shifting with those changes, and I'm glad to see our membership is actively talking about what that means for our future leaders' expanding number of paths to success.
Our meeting was also bookended by two spectacular and inspiring plenaries. Both Dr. Siddartha Mukherjee and Dr. Kathrin Jansen stimulated lively discussions with their presentations and are united in their deep passion and the urgency they conveyed for their (and our) collective work. Between these talks, there was so much to explore and experience-I did not cover it all, but I will return to our virtual platform to revisit quite a list of topics that did not get their full attention from me this week. I hope that you will do the same and bring some of your impressions to the AAPS Communities where we can keep the discussion going!
If the meeting energized you to get involved in the 2022 PharmSci 360 in Boston, now is the time to volunteer! You have until this coming Monday, October 25, to apply to join @Kevin Litwiler on the Scientific Programming Committee. A big thank you again to @Mark Arnold for leading this year's Committee to such an incredible success!
I know that the AAPS staff team (myself included) will need a bit of rest this weekend, but I hope you still will let our science inspire you to look up and ahead.
Tina
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