15th Annual Meeting of ISMPP: Communicating Science in an Era of Innovation and Change

May 14, 2019 | Highlights

The 15th Annual Meeting of ISMPP, Communicating Science in an Era of Innovation and Change, highlighted novel and evolving topics with an impact on medical publications and scientific communications. This year’s meeting was held April 15-17, 2019, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, in National Harbor, MD, USA. The ISMPP U webinar on May 29, 2019, will share highlights of the 15th Annual Meeting.

ISMPP U Webinar
Highlights of the 15th Annual Meeting of ISMPP
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
11 am EDT, 4 pm in UK

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The three-day program offered many opportunities for attendees to hear from keynote speakers, learn from presenters at plenary and parallel sessions, interact with peers during roundtable sessions and workshops, and check out the latest member research. A particularly unique aspect of this year’s program is the extent to which the content was member driven. There were 24 submissions in response to ISMPP’s call for member session proposals this year, and the majority were incorporated as plenary or parallel sessions or roundtable topics. As a result, the 15th Annual Meeting was a true collaboration between the Program Committee and the ISMPP membership.

  • Four keynote addresses were presented by distinguished speakers.
    • Medical Affairs 3.0 ‒ Back to the Future?
      Gary Lyons, Group Director, Strategy & Innovation, Fishawack
    • Health Literacy in Clinical Trials
      Laurie Myers, Global Health Literacy Director, Merck
    • Science Not Communicated Is Science Not Done
      Melissa Marshall, Founder, Present Your Science/Melissa Marshall Consulting
    • Health Policy in Washington: Three Trends That Matter to Medical Communications
      Jon Bigelow, Executive Director, Coalition for Healthcare Communication
  • Plenary sessions explored blockchain and its potential use in medical publications, open access and academic freedom from the researcher perspective, a case study of the recent preprint policy at The Lancet, data deposition requirements at journals, author conflicts of interest (COI) and disclosures, and an update on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC).
  • Parallel sessions offered informative topics relevant to both medical publications and scientific communications.
    • How Can Artificial Intelligence Be Utilized in Publications?
    • Scientific Communication Platforms 301
    • Extending the Reach of Your Poster with Digital Publication Extenders
    • Best Practice in Symposium Development and Delivery
    • Utilizing Competitive Intelligence to Amplify the Impact of Your Publication Plan
    • Working with PowerPoint As Your Co-Presenter
    • Applying the Science of Communication to the Communication of Science
    • Art of Writing Effective Response Letters
    • Optimizing Industry/Client Relationships
    • What Does the PIE Act Mean for HEOR?
    • Building Your Value Story/Value Dossier
  • Roundtable sessions were highly attended and covered a record 12 new topics: author COI, blockchain for science, preclinical publications, lay summaries for journals, preprints, social media as a tool for publications, company-sponsored advisory boards, the role of Medical Affairs in engaging health care professionals (HCPs), European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), metrics, open access and medical publications, and patient voice in publications.
  • This year’s workshops included a new Special Bootcamp, Story & Strategy: Tools to Present More Effectively, led by Melissa Marshall. Other workshop topics included patient lay summaries and plain language summaries, advanced publication planning, scientific platforms, digital advances and publication planning, and health economics and outcomes research (HEOR).

In honor of our esteemed faculty, ISMPP gave a charitable donation to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Member research was heavily featured, with 49 posters presented! Four guided poster tours focused on these themes: contemporary topics, patient engagement, best practice, and enhanced communication. Two posters were selected for oral presentations:

  • Systematic review and evidence-based recommendations for involving patients as publication authors – presented by Karen Woolley
  • Mapping the relationship between article publication and Wikipedia citations for pages related to a cohort of oral anticoagulants – presented by Michelle Kissner

The following four posters received awards at the meeting:

Best Original Research Award

Reach and impact of pharmaceutical industry-affiliated preprints, and subsequent peer‑reviewed publications
Gina D’Angelo, David Gothard, Lisa Law, Valérie Philippon, Eric Southam, Susan Wieting, and Heather Lang

Best Practice Award

Plain language summaries of publications: Addressing the HOW via a stakeholder survey and workshop
Dawn Lobban, Lauri Arnstein, Anne-Clare Wadsworth, and Karen Woolley

Best in Visual Communication Award (TIE!)

To hashtag or not to hashtag: what is the engagement?
Tamalette Loh, Lynda Chang, Elaine Wilson, and Robert Poole

Where are biomedical research article plain-language summaries (PLS)?
Mary Gaskarth, Karen King, Ray Magee, Claudia Piano, Carol Wilk, and Hannah FitzGibbon

The 2019-2020 ISMPP Board of Trustees was installed during the Business Meeting. Catherine Skobe assumed the role of Chair. The following individuals were elected to their positions: Todd Parker, Chair-Elect; Courtney Leo, Treasurer; and Amy Foreman-Wykert, At-Large Trustee. Donna Casparro was elected to serve on the Nominating Committee. Al Weigel was presented with an award in appreciation of his exceptional leadership and dedicated service as ISMPP President and CEO.

Attendees enjoyed three receptions to catch up with friends and meet new colleagues:

  • The Welcome Reception, sponsored by Elsevier, launched the meeting’s activities on Sunday evening.
  • The ISMPP Member Poster Presentation & Reception, sponsored by Takeda, provided a great opportunity to discuss member research with authors.
  • The Annual Networking Reception, sponsored by Churchill Communications, was held at The Sunset Room by Wolfgang Puck, with its scenic views of the Potomac River.

Other opportunities, besides the May 29 ISMPP U webinar, to learn about the 15th Annual Meeting’s sessions and activities include:

With Appreciation!

ISMPP expresses its heartfelt appreciation to our exhibitors and sponsors, plus our media partners – The Publication Plan and PharmaVoice – for their support of the 15th Annual Meeting!

ISMPP extends a very special thank you to the members of our Annual Meeting Program Committee, Global Workshop Committee, and Abstract Committee!

Upcoming Conferences

Mark your calendars and join us for ISMPP’s upcoming conferences:

  • 2019 Asia Pacific Meeting of ISMPP: September 6, 2019, in Tokyo, Japan
  • ISMPP West 2019: November 14-15, 2019, in San Diego, California, USA
  • 2020 European Meeting of ISMPP: January 21-22, 2020, in London, UK
  • 15th Annual Meeting of ISMPP: April 20-22, 2020, in Washington, DC
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