January 10, 2023 | At the 14th Annual Summit for Clinical Ops Executives—held February 6-9, 2023, in Orlando—the wealth of offerings for the clinical research community is once again astounding. With 27 different conferences, three plenary keynote sessions, two awards ceremonies, cross-department panels, the Master of Clinical Research golf tournament, and interactive breakout discussions, the programming is more than enough to keep over 2,200 leaders in clinical operations and research busy for four days. As we begin to work through the agenda, here are a few of the sessions and events that we are flagging. –The Editors
Keynotes and Golf in Orlando
Each year the SCOPE event is known for convening the best in both conversation and recreation and this year’s plenary program—and the second annual golf tournament—is no exception. The week features three keynote sessions. On Monday, February 6, a panel of collaborating partners including representatives from Novartis, Sanofi, Merck, Howard University Hospital, and Morehouse School of Medicine will discuss “Beacon of Hope”, a 10-year, $33.7M commitment from Novartis and the Novartis US Foundation to increase diversity among clinical trial participants and investigators; improve access to high-quality education and promising jobs; address inherent bias in the data standards, and find actionable solutions to environmental and climate issues that disproportionately affect health among communities of color.
On Tuesday, February 7, Virginia Nido, Genentech, will challenge the audience to make real action on patient-centricity, and stop “admiring” the problem. “We need to get real,” she says. “We still have so far to go and together we must continue to drive an uncomfortable level of change.” Next, a second plenary panel with representatives from Takeda, Otsuka America, Tufts University, and Daiichi Sankyo will explore what clinical research has learned about navigating global crises, be it a pandemic, war, hyperinflation, supply chain disruptions or more.
Finally on Wednesday, February 8, in a pair of fireside chats, Amy Abernethy, former Principal Deputy Commissioner, FDA and Christopher Boone, AbbVie, will discuss the increasing role and opportunities for real-world evidence in regulatory pathways and next-gen data sources. (In January, Boone spoke about real-world data on The Scope of Things podcast.) Then a group of pharma executives from Pfizer, Merck, and Janssen will chat about building a multi-year roadmap for future-ready operations.
But SCOPE has always been at least as much of a networking destination as a learning opportunity. The Masters of Clinical Research—SCOPE’s annual golf tournament—returns on Monday, February 6, a perfect excuse to enjoy Orlando’s February weather.
2023 Award Winners
This year SCOPE plays host to two industry award programs. The first, SCOPE’s Participant Engagement Award is now in its 7th year highlighting innovation and change in how the clinical research industry communicates with participants in the fields of recruitment and retention in clinical trials. Finalists for 2023 were named last December, and representatives from 1nHealth, Cedar Health Research, ClinOne, ProofPilot, and StudyKIK will present their projects to the judging panel live during the opening keynote session on Monday, February 6.
New this year, the SCOPE Best of Show Awards from Clinical Research News and ClinEco empowers the SCOPE attendees themselves to highlight the best new products powering clinical research. The SCOPE Best of Show Awards are open to any exhibiting company at SCOPE. Finalists will be announced before the event, and the entire SCOPE community will vote for the Best of Show winners live at the event and the 2023 SCOPE Best of Show winners will be named on Wednesday, February 8.
Co-Located Events
In addition to the regularly schedule SCOPE content, two additional forums will be co-located with the event this year. Barnett’s Clinical Research Training Forum brings together industry training/learning and development professionals from across the globe to share approaches to innovative training program design and team development. During this 1.5-day event, speakers will share case studies and their approaches to developing training programs that encourage critical thinking skills and the development of organizational talent while fostering employee retention.
The inaugural SCOPE Venture, Innovation, & Partnering Conference launches this year, aiming to bring together C-level executives from investment firms that support innovation in the clinical trial process, strategics from pharmaceutical and leading CROs, both venture and corporate arms who have a vested interested in driving this innovation, and also CEOs and innovators from industry, driving the technology in this space.
Learn, Connect, Innovate
The heart and soul of the event, though, remains the presentations from researchers, site staff, vendors, study participants, and others who are intimately connected with clinical research, its goals, and its outcomes. The planned talks are broad and rich, sharing in depth looks at what tools, technologies, and approaches are bearing fruit in clinical research.