As in my last blog post, I am doing catch up and am committed to not being more than 10 years behind.
So from October 2016, while attending the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting in Chicago, I ran into one of FOCM’s premier members, Vicky Martin. That, in a nutshell, is how FOCM networking often works—no planning, no calendar invite, just being in the right place long enough for a familiar face to appear.
AAO is a massive meeting, yet somehow the life sciences world still manages to feel small. Quick introductions turn into longer conversations, updates are exchanged, and just like that, another reminder of why FOCM exists in the first place: to maintain, create, reinforce relationships wherever life sciences industry folks gather.
Vicky Martin
Fast forward into March 2017, I was in RTP and held a networking event at Bar Louie in Brier Creek. Four people (Tim Sauls, Derrick Ferrar, Kate Mullis and Lynne McKerlie) received their FOCM Membership card following the strict protocol of trying and failing to suppress the elation that comes from being welcomed into the organization and all that it entails.
Derrick FerrarKate MullisLynne McKerlieTim Sauls
So yes, this is another look in the rearview mirror—but it’s also a reminder. The value of FOCM has always been in the people and the moments between meetings. And even if I’m catching up on the posts, the connections themselves have never gone stale.
More to come—because there’s still plenty of “not quite 10 years old” FOCM history left to share.
Tell me this, do you admire my determination to get caught up on posting FOCM events which have occurred? I kinda admire it—it’s typical for me. I simply cannot let good intentions fall by the wayside, even if those intentions are a few (okay, several) years overdue.
So here we are, rewinding the clock to June 2016 and the DIA Annual Convention. These photos capture several classic FOCM moments where new members were welcomed immediately. I’d given a workshop on networking and welcomed people who came up to me after the presentation. Other member card ceremonies happened in the exhibit hall. Conversations flowed, introductions were made, and relationships were strengthened in that uniquely organic way that only in-person meetings can deliver.
Back then (PC = pre-Covid) , FOCM was already rooted in the belief that meaningful connections drive progress in our industry. The DIA Annual Convention provided the perfect backdrop: passionate professionals, forward-thinking discussions, and plenty of hallway conversations that turned into long-term relationships. If you look closely at these photos, you’ll see more than smiling faces—you’ll see collaboration in motion.
It’s easy to think of events like DIA as just another conference, but for FOCM, they’ve always been about people first. The value isn’t only in the sessions or exhibits; it’s in the moments between—grabbing coffee, sharing stories, and discovering unexpected synergies.
Posting these now is my small way of honoring those moments and the people who showed up, engaged, and helped shape what FOCM continues to be today. Better late than never, right?
Thanks for indulging this walk down memory lane. More throwbacks to come—because unfinished good intentions still deserve their moment. (As you may have guessed, ChatGPT was useful in some of these sentences).
It is fun to look back after this passage of time. I got to look up Alex Peng and see that his career is doing very well and he’s gained tremendous experience through various career moves. Jon Gardow has made a couple of career moves as has Dr. Zidan.
Jon GardowAlex Peng new memberMohamed Zidan, MD new member ceremony2016 Election Year in Washington D.C.Me, Diane Romick, Brian Langin, Nadia Bracken, Chris Dapolite, Kevin BoosRichard Gastineau, Sue Ruane, Ted Gastineau
From the archives – wow how could it be 5 years ago already. Yes I’m that far behind in posting. Starting Global Life Sciences Alliance https://globallifesciencesalliance.com/ in 2020 has kept me very busy. However, one credo* that FOCM lives by is there is no time limit to posting membership ceremonies and we refuse to not share these fine individuals caught in one of the happiest moments of their lives. This is evidenced by my most recent post from 2018 – https://focmnetworking.com/networking/focm-events-happen-spontaneously/
The subject of today’s post is from a FOCM networking event in Houston, TX in September 2019. The event took place on September 10, the night before the Outsourcing for Clinical Trials Texas conference. It was held at Goode Company Armadillo Palace; 5015 Kirby Dr, Houston.
I know a lot of people in the Houston metro area from having worked for ICON Clinical Research’s Interactive Technology Group with its headquarters in Sugarland, TX. So I was happy to be attending an event in Houston – giving me a reason to have a networking event and reconnect former co-workers and friends.
Receiving their membership cards in the traditionally somber ceremony, Trish Jacquet, now with Medidata Solutions and Matt Foster, now with Veeva Systems could not contain their excitement.
Trish JacquetMatt Foster
*any and all credos are subject to change at the whim of FOCM’s founder
What a difference 6 years makes, right? In that era known as PC (pre-Covid), when we were free to move about the country and gather at indoor facilities shoulder to shoulder and still shaking hands and hugging people.
A lot of words to say that I’m way behind in posting FOCM photos. So this is from June 2018 and occurred at Ruckus in Cary. Pictured are Gayle Grandinetti (Illingworth Research), Matt Comstock, Chris Wurst (WEP Clinical) and Entrane Harvey (WEP Clinical). Sadly, Entrane passed away in July 2023.
And get this, Matt and I attended the same high school in Yuma, AZ called Kofa High School. (He was there a few years after me.)
We had a great turnout at the May 23 Wilmington Pharma/Bio/CRO Networking event.
We had a great turnout at the May 23 Wilmington Pharma/Bio/CRO Networking event. Thanks to all who were there. Mishelle Smith with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Raleigh office was able to share with many attendees information about the Wilmington “Pipeline to a Cure” fundraiser taking place on August 3rd.
We also had a good turn out from out of towners: from Raleigh: Duncan Shaw of DTS Language Services, Brian Horan of SupplyRx, Kalyn Dozier of IDDI, Brian Stigall of BioBridges and from New Jersey, Mike O’Gorman with Life Science Marketplace and SeeMedX.
Others in attendance: Steve and Sandie Simpson, Brittany Hayes Savoca, Tracey Hopkins, Sandy Agrella, Emma Eckler, Wayne Whittingham, Michael Barron, Doug Denny, Liz Luke. A few photos were taken:
Kalyn Dozier, IDDIDoug Denny, Precision for Medicine and Wayne Whittingham, CardioPharmaWayne Whittingham, CardioPharma and Brian Horan, SupplyRx
Is it possible I’m almost 10 years behind in posting membership photos??!!?? Why yes, yes, it is possible and entirely true. But with my dogged persistence, in the end we’ll be all caught up.
Whilst (I love using this old-timey word whenever I remember to throw it in) I wish I were more caught up, sometimes its nice to see things from long ago. Remember taking your film to be developed and then waiting for the pictures to be ready. Sometimes it would days to months since the time the photo was taken.
So here is Gracelyn McDermott pictured with her FOCM membership card which I mailed to her as I was out of them at the (I think it was) DIA 2014 and mailed it to her. Grace and I worked together at ICON for about 10 years.
Gracelyn McDermott membership
She took a photo of herself with the card so that I could post it. I assure you that when she learned that she was getting her membership card, she was exuberantly happy and delighted. FOCM is proud to say that her career has skyrocketed ever since. Grace is now the Vice President, Marketing Sales and Business Development at Kaiser Permanente.
So on March 12, 2018 having given much more notice than usual, the plan was to have a FOCM networking event the night before the Outsourcing in Clinical Trials Southeast event. As fate would have it – the original location – Serenas on Highway 55 and Page Road in Durham was closed due to projected inclement weather (snow!). So last minute announcement went out to move it to Mez. These brave souls weathered (pun intended) the conditions and showed up. Their standing in FOCM was cemented with that effort.
FOCM Event at Mez (Drew Harrison, Derrick Ferrar, (name needed), Steve Caravaglio, me, Chad Pollio, Carol Miller, Pippa Wilson, Bernie Linner, (name needed)
As our passion is to connect people and companies we know and respect to other people and companies we know and respect, we open the meeting asking everyone to put the link to their LinkedIn profile in the chat. This facilitates future communication and connections.
Before we had our featured presenter begin, we shared industry info and upcoming events. A newish conference called: Clinical Research as a Care Option took place in Raleigh in mid-May. We mentioned that we’d be holding a networking event the night prior. It was stated that Joan Chambers would be attending. Joan recently joined Greater Gift as the CEO. Greater Gift’s mission is to increase awareness of clinical trials, especially among unrepresented communities, like women, ethnic minorities, individuals from diverse socio-economic and educational backgrounds. ds.
At this point, we had 21 attendees and we turned over the meeting to Steve Galen, PhD with Validcare. The focus of the presentation was to talk about how not to run out of funding before you get a read on the success of your product. Validcare has the tools and technology to forward plan a trial, find potential bottlenecks and prepare for them. With so many eclinical tools available, the predictability of the cost of a trial is greatly improved. This disruptive change shakes up the traditional and archaic approach of CRO’s low-bidding a project only to begin issuing change orders shortly after the study starts. Such an approach prevents the biotech from managing their financial spend. Steve is an experienced clinical research professional having worked at Merck, Covance, PRA, Syneos and Navitas.
Reminder of these meetings’ guidelines:
Think of this as an open house event – drop in when you can and leave when you need to;
When we have a presenter we have them start when we have assembled a strong amount of respondents – usually 10-15 minutes after the start.
Presenters’ topics are not sales pitches – the focus is on an aspect of clinical trials; where in the process their services are used and aspects of that step.
The link to get the GLSA newsletter and notifications about future live and virtual events: http://bit.ly/3UTb8hL
We ask everyone to put their LinkedIn link into the chat to facilitate connecting and future follow up.
Attendees: Steve Galen, PhD, Validcare & the evening presenter Ira Snyder, Consultant Holly Jochims, Adaptive Clinical Systems Joan Chambers, Greater Gift Brian Langin, Diligent Pharma Mike O’Gorman; Life Science Marketplace Kevin Boos; Aixial Group Amy Lee, PharmD Michael Young, biomedwoRx Ali Hussein, Science 37 Viljena Trask, Syneos Health Sumitra Sheeri, S-Clinical
GLSA Attendees:
Katie Barrett Joe Buser Chris Matheus Denise McNerney Hannah Lloyd Timmina Williams Charity Dube Jordan Brown Sally Haller Ori Geshury Liz Mirra
The April FOCM | GLSA Networking event started out with welcoming everyone and reminding attendees of the meetings guidelines (shown at the end of this blog post).
Joseph Cheng – of PiVOT was then introduced to the attendees. Joseph caught everyone’s attention with a trivia questionnaire featuring a variety of famous and not so famous Philippine individuals. A sampling of them were: Manny Pacquiao, Lea Salonga, Erik Spoelstra, R’Bonney Gabriel, Dave Bautista and Nicole Scherzinger. This was followed up with facts about the Philippines, such as: English is the official language, cars are driven on the same side as in the US, 4 % of registered nurses in the US are Filipinos, non-communicable disease causes of mortality break out as: 38% cardiovascular, 18% cerebrovascular, 16% cancer and 12% diabetes. The population of the Philippines is 113 million people, with 1.5 million new births annually with an average population age of 25.
A concerted effort was put into the clinical trial landscape such that the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines approves studies and product imports in 60 days with ethics approvals coming in 45 – 90 days. PiVOT is the leading and largest Philippine CRO with over 100 employees and have recruited over 40,000 patients into clinical trials across Cardiology, Pediatric Vaccines, COVID-19 trials (vaccines and interventions). Rheumatology, Gastroenterology and Pulmonology (Tuberculosis).
Joseph’s presentation was followed by Q and A, after which we broke into breakout sessions for small group networking. These have been well received, allowing individuals to meet with others, learn about and from each other and identify ways in which they can be helpful to each other.
Event Guidelines:
Think of this as an open house event – drop in when you can and leave when you need to;
When we have a presenter we have them start when we have assembled a strong amount of respondents – usually 10-15 minutes after the start.
Presenters’ topics are not sales pitches – the focus is on an aspect of clinical trials; where in the process their services are used and aspects of that step.
The link to get the GLSA newsletter and receive notifications about future live and virtual events: http://bit.ly/3UTb8hL
We ask everyone to put their LinkedIn link into the chat to facilitate connecting and future follow up.
Attendees:
Joseph Cheng; PiVOT and the evening presenter Stacey Richardson; FHI Clinical Amy Lee, PharmD; Kaiser Permanente Mike O’Gorman; Life Science Marketplace Peter Payne, Consultant Gabrielle DeBoer, Consultant Michael Young, biomedwoRx Andrew Mulchinski, Symbio Research Rodmar Pulido, PiVOT Susan Jalbert, Oracle Amanda Pexa Weber, Merit CRO Mike Minor, IMA Clinical Research Carlos Martinez, America’s Health Foundation Cherey Bigay, PiVOT Ella Mae Ortegha, PiVOT Kim Lupo, Portrett Pharmaceuticals Mark Borndahl, Zymewire Loretta Cipkus Dubray, Global Clinical Connections Arati Bhosale, Sieve Health
GLSA Attendees:
Joe Buser Chris Matheus Denise McNerney Hannah Lloyd Timmina Williams Charity Dube Jordan Brown Sally Haller Ori Geshury Liz Mirra
The recent discovery of photos from past events continues to bring back good memories. These photos are from a September 28, 2017 Wilmington Pharma/Bio/CRO Networking Event at Johnny Luke’s Kitchen Bar, 5500 Market Street, Wilmington, NC.
This group meets monthly, usually on the last Thursday of the month, but can be changed due to travel and other interruptions. We get anywhere from 8 – 30 people attending. The event is held at different restaurants in Wilmington, allowing us to meet explore other restaurants, brew pubs and food trucks. The group is on LinkedIn and announcements of events are published there.
Abby Richmond Melville sent the photos to me.
Lee King, Ryan Manuel, Mark Aikman and myself are identifiable in the photos. That Abby sent them to me might indicate that Margaret Richmond was in attendance as well.
Lee King and Chris MatheusWilmington Pharma/Bio/CRO Networking
