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TWO ARCS’ CONGRESSES IN 2010 - MAKE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND NOW!!
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
2010 is an exciting year for ARCS and its members. For the first time since the early 1990’s we are holding two ARCS Scientific Congresses (ASC). Each will be two days in duration – you can choose to attend one or both events. We have engaged several key stakeholder groups to support the theme across the two meetings of “Working in Partnership”. These are the “must attend” events for our members – all the elements of Professional Development are incorporated in these meetings.
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THE VERY POPULAR “ARCS EVENING UPDATES” SERIES IS BACK IN 2010
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
After the great success of the Evening Update series in 2009, we are pleased to provide you with a preliminary schedule for 2010. Evening updates are intended to appeal to a broad audience and provide updates on important developments, trends and changes in our professional environment. They are not intended to be technically specifi c and not an in-depth training opportunity. They are a great way of staying in touch with what is happening and networking with your colleagues after the event. These evening updates are generally scheduled for Monday’s (typically the last Monday of the Month) at the ARCS Business Office starting at 4pm with networking starting at 5pm. If you are unable to attend, presentations are available to members in the My Information Sources section of the ARCS Member website.
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WHAT IS THE ROLE OF AN ESC CONVENOR?
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
The Convenors of the ESCs are one of the most important and highly valued group of members working as volunteers for the ARCS Association. Collectively, they act as an Advisory Panel to the Board – providing member input and direction to the Board which is then considered in the strategic planning and implementation processes. Convenors are elected from within the ESC, and for a maximum 3 year term. Often, an ESC will have 2, or possibly more, co-Convenors which facilitates continuity during periods of leave or travel, and also enables new Convenors to be introduced and mentored.
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ARCS AUSTRALIA WELCOMES ITS FIRST ARCS CERTIFIED FELLOWS (ACF)
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
In the last edition of the “Source Document” I outlined the process to become ARCS certified. I am pleased to inform you that at the ARCS Board meeting on the 21st January 2010, the first three ARCS Certifi ed Fellows (ACF) in clinical research were approved by the ARCS Board.
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COMING SOON – ARCS ASIA!
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
There has been a lot of talk, and a lot of preparatory action… finally we are ready to go live with a program for your colleagues in the Asia region! This article brings you up to date with the research and consultation that has been undertaken to understand the needs and create the plans to best meet those needs, and an outline of the implementation plan for ARCS Asia.
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BIOSTATISTICS AND HEALTH ECONOMIC METHODS FOR PBAC SUBMISSIONS: WHAT ARE THE KEY METHODS AND HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OUR SUBMISSIONS?
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
This is a brief review of the two-day course, “Biostatistics and Health Economic Methods for PBAC Submissions”, hosted by ARCS on the 6-7th August 2009, at Pfizer Australia. This course was presented by Simon Eckermann, Professor at the Flinders Centre for Clinical Change and Health Care Research, Flinders University, and member of the Economics Sub- Committee (ESC) of the Pharmaceutical Benefi ts Advisory Committee (PBAC); and Michael Coory, Associate Professor of Health Statistics, University of Queensland, and Medical Epidemiologist at Queensland Health. Day one of the course was followed by two presentations by practicing Biostatisticians, Dr Michael Adena (Director, Statistical Consultancy, Covance Pty Ltd) and Philippa Delahoy (Outcomes Research Statistical Lead, Pfizer Australia). The course was chaired by Giao Tran (Senior Health Economist, Roche Products Pty Ltd) and there were approximately 30 attending professionals from the pharmaceutical industry and consultancy. As not all registration requests could be accommodate, this course has been scheduled again for April 2010.
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COACHING IN THE WORKPLACE
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
What is coaching? Amongst the many thousands of definition I have read and heard the one that interests me most is the one I heard in my Intensive Coach Training, “…An interactive process that helps individuals and organizations to develop more rapidly and produce more satisfying results, hence facilitating positive change by improving thinking”. While I was reading the book on “Coaching: evoking excellence in Others” by James Flaherty, I came across this line which really resonated with me, it read that “…until we reveal to ourselves what we understand human beings to be and what they are capable off, we cannot coach them”. My own experience enables me to understand that coaching is an amalgamation of varied elements, a coach acts like a mentor at times, a trainer and when required behaves like a sports coach. Overall coaching helps in enabling an individual to perform better and achieve more.
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THE INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF TWITTER IN HEALTHCARE
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
Every day millions of professionals are using Twitter to share ideas with others, gather real-time intelligence and build relationships. I surmised that if millions of people were doing it, something must be making sense to them, so I determined to find out more! This article summarizes my personal introduction to, and views of, Twitter. Throughout 2009 I’d been hearing a lot about Twitter but I didn’t understand it and couldn’t appreciate its value, so I started to investigate it more fully. After reading many books and spending countless hours on the Internet I could see where Twitter was going but still struggled with its value. I compared the process I was going through to that of learning a new language – I persevered.
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STAY UP TO DATE WITH INDUSTRY INFORMATION IN 2010! SET UP YOUR COMMUNICATION STRATEGY WITH ARCS
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
ARCS Australia exists to serve the needs of its members through education, information and networking opportunities. Key to our success is communicating the messages to you, our members, and also to potential members who may benefit from what we offer. In this article you will find tips on how to optimise communications with ARCS to ensue you gain maximum benefit.
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PHARMACY ALUMNI ACTIVITIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
The Pharmacy Alumni Association at the University of Sydney went from strength to strength during 2009 and is looking forward to another productive year in 2010. The new executive committee, elected in May 2009 at the Association’s Annual General Meeting, is committed to designing programs and activities that will appeal and be of benefi t to alumni of all ages, sectors and backgrounds. Executive Committee members are; Ross Brown, Lillian Chen, Lachlan Rose, David Maxwell, Elie Abdallah, Marisa Petersen and Patti Payne. The Faculty of Pharmacy hosted two very successful reunions for 1949 and 1959 Materia Medica during September and October last year complete with tours of the Faculty labs and new buildings and of course quite a bit of catching up and socialising! Some graduates hadn’t seen each other in 60 years!
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INAUGURAL SURVEY OF INVESTIGATOR PERCEPTIONS ON THE VALUE OF INDUSTRY FUNDED CLINICAL RESEARCH
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
The global competition for attracting clinical trials is increasing. For Australia to continue to attract the level of clinical trial activity that it has achieved over the past two decades it is important that strategies are implemented to enhance the clinical trial environment in Australia. For this to be achieved support will be required from different stakeholders including state and federal governments, health departments, hospital bureaucrats, researchers and industry. Receiving this support will be assisted if the value of industry sponsored research is understood. To assist in obtaining this information a survey was conducted on behalf of the Pharmaceuticals Industry Council (PIC) in Australia to assess what value Australia derives from involvement in industry funded clinical research as judged by investigators and study staff. The results of the survey were collated by the NSW Clinical Trials Business Development Centre.
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CLINICAL TRIALS ACTION GROUP
11/02/2010
Issue Number: 7
In the December 2009 edition of The Source Document we provided an update on the activities of the Pharmaceuticals Industry Council R&D Taskforce or RDTF (report on a seminar held at ARCS Australia on 7th December 2009). Dr Melissa Grady, the Co-Chair of the RDTF spoke of the formation of the Australian Government’s Clinical Trials Action Group. The activities of this group are well underway – the reporting timeframe is very short with the fi nal report due in April 2010.