One aspect of ISMPP’s mission is to advance the medical publication profession globally through education, advocacy, and professional collaborations. ISMPP fulfills this mission in various ways, with the Advocacy & Outreach (A&O) Committee serving a key role.
While the A&O Committee has existed for several years, the current Committee is focusing its effort on three strategic targets, to fulfill prioritization from the ISMPP Board of Trustees:
- Medical Societies/Large Academic Centers
- Regional Organizations of Interest (in Europe and Asia Pacific)
- Global Organizations Representing Professional Standards
“The overall objective of the A&O Committee effort is to increase awareness of ISMPP, including benefits of membership; pursue educational opportunities with other organizations to build knowledge of good publication practices and standards; and explore collaborations with professional societies/associations to advance good publication practices and standards.” –Jackie Marchington, Committee Co-chair
Three workstreams have been put in place to focus on these strategic targets:
- The Medical Societies/Large Academic Centers workstream is creating an educational slide library for use by ISMPP presenters in covering various medical publication topics, including Good Publication Practice (GPP3) guidelines, and financial and data transparency regulations. The plan is for ISMPP speakers to utilize the slide library for educational presentations at meetings/webinars held by medical societies, such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Urological Association (AUA), and academic centers, such as Manchester Metropolitan University and Rutgers University. The workstream has a three-year plan to implement this outreach, with a pilot being planned in the coming months.
- The Regional Organizations workstream is focused on building awareness of ISMPP and growing the Society’s membership in the Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Identification and prioritization of pharmaceutical companies and medical communication agencies with publications-related staff located in these two regions is underway. A slide deck is being developed that highlights the benefits of membership and involvement in the Society, which is planned for use in outreach to companies and agencies in Europe and Asia Pacific later this year.
- The Global Professional Organizations workstream has identified a number of societies/associations that emphasize professional standards to target, such as the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Council of Science Editors (CSE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE), and the Eighth International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication. Outreach plans for specific societies/associations are being determined, with contacts planned to occur over the next several months. Possible outreach activities with these societies/associations include:
- Educational presentation at conference and/or online learning
- Abstract submission to conference
- Exhibit booth presence at conference
- Information sharing with membership through website, publications, etc.
- Roundtable forum, joint position development, or other collaboration activity
“The goal of the A&O Committee is action-oriented in identifying and prioritizing organizations for outreach in the three strategic targets, and determining and implementing outreach plans to the individual organizations. We are progressing well in achieving this goal.” –Tom Grant, Committee Co-chair
The A&O Committee is co-chaired by Tom Grant and Jackie Marchington, with strategic guidance provided by Alice Choi. The Committee consists of the following volunteer members: Tanya Brinsden, John Czekanski, Caryn Jones, Bhakti Kshatriya, Jim Loss, Rosie Lynch, Sam Mathew, Kristen McGrory, Demetrios Michael, Satomi Mukaide, Emily Putiri, Steven Rizk, Andrew Sakko, Grannum Sant, Suzann Schiller, Lori Smette, Betsy Taylor, and Susan Wieting. Anna Geraci serves as the ISMPP staff liaison to the Committee.
Thank you to Tom, Jackie, Alice, and all the A&O Committee members for their dedicated efforts this past year!