CONGRESS WRAP-UP
Yes – it’s over for another year, but planning for 2009 is underway already for the ARCS 18th Annual Scientific Congress (ASC) - put it in your diary: 1 – 3 June 2009 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.
ASC is ARCS’ flagship event, an event we aim to deliver to International standards (for half the price) and our success was confirmed by several of our international and keynote speakers. 1052 registered delegates enjoyed the Congress – and in total, 1130 interested parties walked through our doors. These included final year and post-grad students interested to know more about opportunities for careers in therapeutics development, visitors to the Exhibition Area, and of course a large number of members and non-members attending the education sessions.
41 sessions – an increase of 20% on 2007 - meant 123 speakers and 41 sessions chairs gave their time to develop sessions which explored new advances in the many facets of therapeutics development (clinical research, Asia Pacific development, quality issues, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, data management and statistics, health economics), the communication of research results and medical information to the broader community, workplace management skills and leadership development. Download the 2008 ASC Program for more information 
2008ASC_Program(1.76MB).
The Opening Plenary: Stem Cells - the Science and the Application was spellbinding. It was a long session, but for two hours, Prof. Peter Rathjen, Dr Megan Munsie and Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja held the audience’s attention to such a degree that you could hear a pin drop. Excellent speakers who not only were experts in their fields, but could communicate and explain the complexities of the science, the breakthroughs, the applications and the political and ethical conundrums effectively and understood and engaged their audience. It was a privilege to be part of it – and our delegates greatly appreciated this insight into what may well be an exciting future for therapeutics – their feedback was hugely positive.
The Closing Plenary is a tough call – after lunch on the final day of Congress - however, the topic of Pharmacogenomics and Individual Patient Treatment was up to the task. The insights to the potential for developing targeted therapeutics, maximising efficacy and minimising adverse reactions, the search for effective biomarkers in the neurosciences, the work of the Brain Dynamics Centre, and the ethical challenges surrounding DNA banking and pharmacogenomic therapies were fascinating. The audience came, and they stayed – it was a wonderful closing session.
Thank you to the wonderful support of our major sponsors – Pharmaceutical Professionals, Cryosite and i3 Pharma Resourcing – we are always enormously grateful. Without their support and that of all our sponsors and exhibitors the production of an event of this standard would not be possible.
Finally – thank you to all the delegates for your attendance and enthusiastic support and feedback. Please also remember to thank your managers and employers for supporting your attendance – application of your new found knowledge in the workplace is the ultimate goal in enhancing your professional development.
ARCS also hosted a Biggest Morning Tea at the 17th ARCS ASC in support of the Cancer Council. Over the three days we were able to raise over $175.00. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
Marisa Petersen
Chief Executive Officer
ARCS Australia