FOCM Members in Chicago at ASCO

Yes ’tis true I am only 8 years behind in posting photos of members captured at various conferences.

This photo was taken at ASCO in June of 2014 in Chicago.  American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has been held in June in Chicago for many, many years. It is one of the largest Oncology focused conferences.  It draws medical and clinical oncologist, oncology RNs, oncology NPs and PAs. The exhibit hall is huge and takes place at McCormick Center in Chicago.

I was working at YPrime at the time and was fortunate to be selected to attend. One of the things I love about conferences is running into friends and former co-workers. In most cases, its both. This time I ran into two of my favorites: Erica Hill and Sue Ruane. I’d  met them both while working at ICON Clinical Research.

 

Erica Hill, me, Sue Ruane

January Networking Meeting Summary

On January 19, 2022, the Global Life Sciences Alliance along with FOCM Networking held its monthly online drug and medical device development industry networking event. This was the first event of the new year and we had 3 first-time attendees.  

We kept everyone in one main room and went around the room having each person introduce themselves.  There was an open dialog and discussion on a variety of topics: expectations for COVID cases and treatments, the impact on travel and conventions/conferences and hopes for it to lessen and burn out and become similar to seasonal flu. The concern for another variant that could put us into strict measures is real yet the thought of having to deal with that makes us tired.

Heal Mary, (https://healmaryapp.com/) a GLSA client is an oncology patient recruitment platform founded by Cassandra Hui. Cass is from the tech industry and she started Heal Mary driven by her personal story: “My mom was told to go home and get her affairs in order, that there were no other options… I’ve made it my mission to ensure that patients know ALL of their options.” We showed a video of Cass explaining the motivation for starting Heal Mary using her tech and Artificial Intelligence skills to make sure patients know of treatment options available via clinical trials. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLB_CmGY3-trX3rKePF0FWw

Please join us next month on February 16.  Kalyan Ghosh of Inference, a data management  and biostatistics service provider and client of GLSA will spend 10 minutes talking about the role of data management and biostatistics in drug development.

ATTENDEES (bolded names were first time attendees):

Heather Hollick, Rizers, LLC; Author of “Helpful, A guide to life, careers and the art of networking”
Mike Burrows, Burrows Life Science Associates
Kate Findlen, Life Molecular Imaging
Kimberly Lupo, Portrett Pharmaceuticals
Mike O’Gorman, Life Science Marketplace
Andy Mulchinski, Symbio
Brian Langin, Matrix Medical
Charlie Speno, Matrix Medical
Michael W. Young, biomedwoRx: Life Sciences Consulting
Chris Matheus, Global Life Sciences Alliance & FOCM
Denise McNerney, Global Life Sciences Alliance
Joe Buser, Global Life Sciences Alliance
Zulma Varela, Global Life Sciences Alliance
Holly  Cliffe, Global Life Sciences Alliance
Hannah Lloyd, Global Life Sciences Alliance

Screenshots of the event follow:

Screen Shots

Job Opportunity for Oncology Health Care Clinician

Am helping a FOCM member find a candidate for the position described below.  Additional information: basically need a current/recent oncology nurse or NP that is also good at knowing when data regarding patient volumes from EMR queries are likely inaccurate. It’s a key role that is critical to our meeting our deliverables… I think the perfect person has that oncology nursing background, but maybe left 2-3 years ago to join one of the CROs as a CRA or PM.

Job Title: Manager, Nursing Informatics – Oncology
Reports to Vice President, Clinical Operations
Location: Raleigh, NC

Job Purpose
Utilize knowledge of oncology patient care to support proposal development and clinical trials via thorough curation, analysis, and interpretation of EMR data housed in data warehouse.

Duties and Responsibilities
1. Develop clinical trial enrollment projections for bids
2. Assess impact of amendments to ongoing clinical trials, including revised projections
3. Collaborate with IT to build accurate data queries for awarded clinical trial projects and to modify queries as necessary on an ongoing basis
4. Review medical records of patients identified by data queries as likely matches to a clinical research, and determine eligibility.
5. Maintain and manage “watch list” of those patients that are not currently eligible but may be in the future based on disease progression, resolved comorbidities, etc., to ensure timely enrollment when appropriate.
6. Communicate specific patients’ eligibility and logistical information (e.g., date/time of next appointment, exam results, etc.) to onsite clinical research staff
7. Track progress/actions in study applications
8. May supervise other data-oriented positions within the Clinical Operations department
9. Handle other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:
• BA/BS degree preferred; equivalent combined education and experience will be considered
• Understanding of clinical research fundamentals
• Basic understanding of SOPs, WIs, FDA, and local regulations as well as ICH GCP guidelines, required

Experience:
• Three (3) years’ experience delivering oncology care delivery as a nurse, nurse practitioner, or other healthcare provider. Clinical research experience strongly preferred, whether as a study coordinator or in an operational role at a CRO or pharma company

Required Competencies/Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
• Functional knowledge of patient pathways in oncology
• Functional knowledge of clinical research workflow and regulations.
• Ability to organize and analyze data to derive reasonable interpretations and conclusions
• Ability to quickly learn new software applications.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills, including ability to manage multiple deliverables across multiple projects.
• Excellent office productivity skills, especially with MS Word and Excel, as well as strong familiarity with clinical trials management software.
• Adaptability and flexibility.
• Ability to complete tasks independently, accurately, and within compressed timelines.

Working conditions
Day shift with standard working hours (8AM – 5 PM); corporate office and/or home office environment with regular computer and phone usage. Minimal travel expected (less than 5%) after initial training/onboarding.

Direct reports
This position may have direct reports depending on company growth and needs.