ISPOR STUDENT NETWORK

“Student chapters

across the globe look

forward to convening

together at the 21st

Annual International

Meeting next year in

Washington, D.C., USA

-Julie Patterson

Incoming ISPOR student chapter presidents attended the annual leadership retreat to discuss past chapter successes as well as goals and plans for the upcoming year

National Meeting Recap Over 500 students from over 40 countries attended the ISPOR 20th Annu-

al International Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Meeting highlights for stu-

dents included the annual leadership retreat for ISPOR chapter presi-

dents, mock interviews with industry leaders, a Jeopardy-style student

research competition, and a student social.

Outstanding Chapter Awards were presented at the student leadership

retreat. Chapters receive awards based on applications summarizing their

scholarly pursuits, community outreach, and social events. This year, the

University of Maryland (First Place), West Virginia University (Second

Place), and the University of Toledo (Third Place) were recognized for

their accomplishments. Hacettepe University won the Best New Chapter

Award.

The Student Network European Planning Committee has already begun

planning for student events at this year’s Annual European Congress in

Milan Italy, and student chapters across the globe look forward to conven-

ing together again at the 21st Annual International Meeting next year in

Washington, D.C., USA.

Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 1 September 2015

National Meeting Recap Con’t The meeting offered many students the opportunity to present their research

through podium and poster presentations. Three students won the highly

regarded “Best Student Podium Research Presentation” awards. The win-

ners included:

Kai Young, a PhD Candidate at the University of Washington, for his

presentation “Application of Cost-Effectiveness Logic to US Managed Care

Drug Formularies: Long Term Outcomes of a Value-Based Formulary,”

Geannan Camponeschi, a graduate of the John Hopkins University

Bloomberg School of Public Health now working for ZS Associates, for her

presentation, “Measuring Treatment Preferences of Patients Diagnosed with

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Using Best-Worst Scaling,” and J. Levy, from

the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for his presentation, “US Based Drug

Cost Parameter Estimates Using National Average Drug Acquisition.

___________________________________________________________

Additionally, three students won “Best Student Poster Research Presenta-

tion” awards. The winners included:

Jennifer Tran from the University of California, San Francisco, for her

poster “Cost-Effectiveness of a Behavioral Psychosocial Treatment Integrat-

ed Across Home and School for Pediatric ADHD-Inattentive Type,” Anand

Shewale, PhD Candidate at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sci-

ences, for his poster “Comparative Effectiveness of Rivaroxaban and Stand-

ard Anticoagulant Therapies for Prevention of Primary Venous Thromboem-

bolism in Patients Undergoing Major Orthopedic Surgery,” and Rituparna

Bhattacharya, a graduate of West Virginia University now working for

Humana, for her poster, “Does Treatment for Newly Diagnosed Depression

Reduce Healthcare Expenditures Among Medicaid Beneficiaries with Type 2

Diabetes Mellitus?”

Research Competition In the student research competition,

teams of four competed in a fast-paced,

head-to-head tournament testing their

knowledge. In the final round, the Uni-

versity of Texas at Austin defeated Vir-

ginia Commonwealth University, demon-

strating their superior combination of

knowledge and skill. Mercer University

finished third. When asked about his

experience in the competition,

Hrishikesh Kale, a graduate student at

Virginia Commonwealth University, said

“the ISPOR student research competi-

tion was a fun filled and exciting event

that turned competitive as teams pro-

gressed towards final rounds. Both par-

ticipants and audience thoroughly en-

joyed the event."

From top: Jennifer Tran, Anand Shewale, and Rituparna Bhattacharya

2015 Research Competition Champions, the University of Texas

From left: Kai Young, Geannan Camponeschi, J. Levy

Name: Elisabeth Oehrlein

Hometown: Clarksville, MD

Current University: University of Maryland,

Baltimore

Educational Background: Graduated from

Franklin & Marshall College in 2012

Research Interests: Comparative effective-

ness research/patient centered outcomes re-

search, health technology assessment, net-

work meta analysis, atrial fibrillation

Potential Career Plans: Academia or

Industry

Hobbies: Walking, jogging

How/When did you become interested in pharmacoeconomics and outcomes

research?

I initially became interested in HTA, which led me to ISPOR, while interning at a pharmaceuti-

cal company prior to starting graduate school

Highlight(s) of your participation in ISPOR: Becoming Student Network Chair for 2015-

16 and Co-Chairing the Special Interest Group on Digest of Databases

What is your vision for the 2015-2016 year in the ISPOR Student Network/goals you

hope to accomplish?

Over the past months, I have spoken with members of the individual committees and have

been very impressed by how motivated everyone is this year. My hope is that student net-

work members will feel more connected to other students interested in HEOR at other

schools, who may well turn out to be future colleagues. I am excited to continue working to-

gether and look forward to seeing the different projects come together.

Get to Know Your ISPOR Student Network Leadership

ISPOR NETWORK CHAIR BIO

Updates from Around the World Every quarter the Newsletter Committee sends out requests for updates from our student chapter members. For this

issue of the newsletter, covering June through August 2015, we received updates from all over the world. This is a

great start to the new academic year and first issue of the newsletter with the present committee. If your university is

included in this edition, we are extremely grateful for your contribution and willingness to highlight your chapter. For

everyone else, we look forward to hearing from you for the upcoming issues!

—Doug Thornton

Which chapters are highlighted in this issue?

Four states in the United States are represented this issue with chapter updates from Mercer University (Georgia),

University of Georgia, University of Michigan, University of Rhode Island, and University of Utah. Also there are up-

dates from five chapters representing three

countries: Acharya Nagarjuna University

(India), National Institute of Pharmaceutical

Education and Research (India), Maastricht

University (Netherlands), Utrecht University

(Netherlands), and Scuola Superiore

Sant'Anna (Italy). The chapter updates are

presented in alphabetical order.

STUDENT CHAPTER UPDATES

JUNE – AUGUST 2015

Top: Utah, Michigan, Georgia and Rhode Island Right: United States, Netherlands, Italy, and India From amcharts.com

FREE AWARENESS CAMP ON HEALTH & MEDICATION (03/02/2015)

Event Name: Free Awareness Camp on Health & Medication

Venue: Chalapathi Nagar bus stop, LAM, Guntur, India

Attendees: Acharya Nagarjuna University student chapter members.

Description: The ISPOR-Acharya Nagarjuna University student chapter’s community service committee has

conducted a health awareness camp on health and medicines in Chalapathi Nagar bus stop, LAM, Guntur,

India. Chapter members have been actively involved in measuring Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar, and Body

Mass Index (BMI) to the registered people and counseled them regarding their economic considerations in

medication taking behavior and importance of pharmacist & prescription medicines. Around 300 members

from surrounding areas have utilized and benefited from the services provided by the chapter members. The

public also learned that proper dietary habits & regular physical activity may help them keep fit & healthy.

They have requested the chapter members to conduct such activities regularly, to bring proper awareness on

health, and also to uplift the importance of the pharmacy profession in community setup.

Participated Chapter Members – 30 members; Public educated -- 300 members

Impact of Camp: Since there are a lot of people with low socio -economic status and less education in

developing countries like India, this camp led the public to become aware of proper dietary habits, physical

activity which helps to keep them fit and healthy. The public also became aware of regarding the medication

adherence and the role of lifestyle modifications such as exercise, proper nutrition, weight control, avoidance

of social habits like smoking and alcohol, prevention of disease and complications.

All three photos: Acharya Nagarjuna University ISPOR student chapter members

Acharya Nagarjuna University

Community Services Committee

Start-up of journal club in Maastricht

Based on the good experiences of other chapters to organize journal clubs at their facilities, we decided to try

this concept at our university. We organized two meetings and will continue to do so in the coming months.

Our first paper was presented by Professor Silvia Evers and was about the risk of bias in trial-based econom-

ic evaluations. The second presenter was Dr. Bram Ramaekers and he presented a paper on two different

methods for sample size calculations in non-inferiority trails. Both meetings were well attended and papers

were thoroughly discussed.

Publishing of chapter manuscript on DCE

We are very excited to announce that the manuscript written and executed by the Maastricht student chapter

was published in Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research. In the article, rating skills

exercises and discrete-choice experiments are compared using the preferences of undergraduate health sci-

ences students for the selection of study specialization for a bachelor orientation. You can access the article

using the following link: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/xJHWyWb7xUf6iSRfp2eF/full

Low Lands Health Economists’ Study Group (LoLa HESG)

Several of our chapter members helped to organize or participated in during the 7th LoLa HESG conference

in Maastricht on the 26th and 27th of May. During this conference, junior researchers from Belgium and the

Netherlands had the opportunity to submit unfinished papers to be discussed in detail by more senior re-

searchers. Many of our chapter members had their research discussed and obtained feedback was seen as

very valuable.

Maastricht University

Maastricht, Netherlands

Inge van der Putten, Chapter President

At this year’s 20th Annual ISPOR International meeting, Mercer sent four representatives to compete in a

skills competition. Our team named the HEOR Heroes included Meron Mezgebe (P2), Cathy Liu (P2), Carey

Charest (P3), and Michelle Vu, (P2). This marked the first time the Mercer University

College of Pharmacy ISPOR chapter has sent a team to the competition, and were one of 17 participating

schools. As first-time competitors, they were ecstatic to place 3rd and hope to start a legacy of representing

our school at ISPOR. They mention they could not have accomplished this goal without the support of their

ISPOR advisors, Dr. Lovett and Dr. Peasah, who not only had helped prepare them for the competition but

also have nurtured their interest in this field and in research.

Clockwise from top left: The HEOR Heroes; Out-going chapter president, Dure Kim (P4), earned the Distinguished Service award for chairing the Newsletter Committee; Francois Chesteral se-cured a fellowship with Arbor Pharmaceuticals in Atlanta, GA; Jackie McRae secured a fellowship with Janssen Pharmaceuticals in Titusville, NJ; Michelle Vu, Rasheed Anifowoshe, and Meron Mezgebe presented amazing research posters.

Mercer University was proud of their accomplishments!

Mercer University College of Pharmacy

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Shedrick Martin, Chapter President

As President of the Student Chapter of International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research at National Institute of

Pharmaceutical Education and Research, SAS Nagar (ISPOR SC NIPER), it is my pleasure to write this report regarding the recent

workshop on Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research held on May 9, 2015. The chapter acknowledges the financial support

received as educational grant by the ISPOR.

For this workshop, professionals from healthcare-related organization and industry were invited to interact and apprise the students

with respect to the current trends in real-world healthcare practices and industry.

At the inaugural session, the Director, NIPER welcomed all the participants and expected that this workshop would address the

knowledge gaps in health economics and outcome research. The inaugural function was attended by faculty members of the insti-

tute, the Dean, the faculty advisor and all the participants. The chief guest Prof SK Gupta (President, India chapter of ISPOR) com-

plimented the student chapter for being a very vibrant and forward looking ‘newly formed’ chapter. He expected to see the consolida-

tion of the strengths under the leadership of the faculty advisor, Prof Pramil Tiwari, who proposed the vote of thanks. A group photo-

graph was clicked right after the inaugural session.

The first session was engaged by Prof. S.K. Gupta, Professor Emeritus, Clinical Research (DIPSAR), Advisor to Pharmacovigilance

Program of India (PvPI) on “HEOR in India: Evolution and Future”. He not only shared how PE has evolved in India but also touched

upon the challenges ahead. He urged the young learners to understand HEOR and pursue their career in the field of HEOR.

Second session was led by Mr. Ashutosh Gupta, Sr. Analyst, Novartis, Hyderabad, India on “Commercial Pharma Operations: Busi-

ness analytics and competitive intelligence”. Using a highly interactive format, Mr. Gupta explained the various concepts on business

analytics and competitive intelligence. The nature of this session and the clarity of presentation helped the participants to have a

clear understanding about business analytics. He emphasized that to be a successful business analyst, one has to be exceptionally

good at the spreadsheets and numbers.

The third session was a hands-on-session on “Data handling and interpretation in HEOR” led by Mr. Ambrish Singh, Senior Re-

searcher, HEOR professional, working at UnitedHealth Group, New Delhi, India and very well supported by Mr. Kapil Gudala, PhD

student NIPER, Mohali, India. Mr. Singh presented the various approaches used in data extraction and elaborated upon the system-

atic review/meta-analysis. Mr. Singh was very clear in his discussion that the method adopted for data extraction defines how good

the subsequent steps are. Later, Mr. Gudala delivered a lecture on commonly used outcome measures in HEOR. Participants were

divided into clusters and given practical exercises. The volunteers of the chapter, led by the past president of the chapter Mr. Rajiv

Ahlawat, addressed the finer issues with the clusters.

In the valedictory session, feedback was elicited from the participants. Many of them urged that such activities should happen more

often and the participation be open to other students of the institution. The faculty advisor assured that the executive committee will

look into it and come out with the options before the next academic session starts. In his closing remarks, Prof SK Gupta said that he

was impressed by the zeal of the participants who had actively participated in the workshop. He looked forward to more of such ac-

tivities to strengthen the Indian chapter of ISPOR.

National Institute of Pharmaceutical

Education and Research

Mohali, Punjab, India

Kapil Gudala, Chapter President

Over the summer, ISPOR Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA) student chapter was involved in three main activities: (a) internal

meetings for programming seminars and workshops to be aimed at master students of University of Pisa and graduate students of

SSSA, (b) an international conference and, finally, (c) an update Meeting.

Regarding the activity (a), the following themes have been considered for the next few seminars: Statistics involved in cost-

effectiveness analysis; Bayesian approach to inference, hierarchical models in meta-analysis with fixed and random effect; Simula-

tion: MCMC, Gibbs sampling.

Concerning the activity (b), ISPOR SSSA student chapter members collaborated as both staff members and speakers at the R&D

Management Conference 2015 in the month of June. The R&D Management Conference is an international annual event where uni-

versities and industries can present their activities focusing on the connections among R&D activities with a relevant social impact in

many scientific fields, health economics included. From June 23-26, 335 researchers from 38 different countries attended the confer-

ence at SSSA. The conference kicked off with a welcoming reception, and it ended with 3 parallel workshops and a closing session.

Due to the high number of conference tracks, the all-day conference programme was divided into several parallel sessions and a ple-

nary session. On June 25th, - within the conference track The economics and evaluation of R&D/innovation in the Life Sciences coor-

dinated by Prof. Giuseppe Turchetti (ISPOR SSSA Chapter Advisor) and Prof. Elie Geisler (Illinois Institute of Technology of Chica-

go). ISPOR SSSA student chapter members presented works with theoretical and empirical contributions in the concepts and meth-

ods in value creation and evaluation of the R&D/innovation in Life Sciences (pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, clinical

medicine, etc.). The presentations included:

Francesco Fusco: Disruptive innovation in Healthcare: breaking the old patterns of business modelling and Health Technology

Assessment. Preliminary results for the assessment of an innovative knee Telerehabilitation device in Tuscany.

Stefania Manetti: R&D and innovative health technologies: towards the definition of a methodology for an Early Assessment.

Leopoldo Trieste: Assessing the value of the use of diagnostic technology: trade offs for GPs; How to design a business model

for technology-driven innovations like robots. The case of Robot-Era.

Abstracts are available at http://www.rnd2015.sssup.it/book-of-abstract.html.

To conclude, the R&D Management Conference was a great occasion to enlarge the SSSA student chapter network across the

ISPOR non-member university. On one hand, this will be an asset for SSSA for future academic collaboration; on the other hand, it

could further broaden the ISPOR community to new potential members who attended the R&D Conference meeting.

R&D Management Conference 2015, final plenary session at Polo Piagge (Pisa), Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA)

Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna

Pisa, Italy

Stefania Manetti, Chapter President

Regarding the activity (c), in July, ISPOR SSSA student chapter members took part in the 2015 Volterra meeting. The Volterra

meeting is an annual seminar, organized by SSSA at SIAF (Scuola Internazionale di Alta Formazione) at Volterra, a small Tuscan

hill town. Within the seminar, Ph.D. candidates presented their research and results in a friendly atmosphere including post-docs,

researchers and professors of Institute of Management. From July 15-17, 27 Ph.D. students had been presenting the state-of-the-

art of their research projects. Student chapter member served as moderators for the presentation sessions of the other Ph.D. stu-

dents, as well as they presented the following health economics themes:

1. Telerehabilitation after Total Knee Replacement: Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of a mixed telerehabilitation-

standard rehabilitation programme compared to usual care.

2. Early Health Technology Assessment (EHTA) in the R&D of innovative Biomedical Devices: models, applications and their

managerial implications.

The first issue was investigated by Francesco Fusco, Ph.D. candidate in health economics. His research project aimed at as-

sessing cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of telerehabilitation versus standard rehabilitation after Total Knee Replacement (TKR).

A Markov decision model for cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis based on patient-level and secondary data sources em-

ploying Italian NHS (Ita-NHS) and Society perspectives was adopted. Primary care units (PCU) in Italy was the setting of the

study and the participants were patients discharged after TKR. Mixed Standard Rehabilitation-Telerehabilitation (SR-TR) service

(10 face-to-face sessions and 10 telesessions) was analyzed versus Standard Rehabilitation (SR) (20 face-to-face sessions). The

incremental cost per additional knee flexion range of motion (ROM) and per QALY gained by SR-TR compared to SR were con-

sidered as primary outcome measures. Telerehabilitation appears to be cost-effective in the base-case and in all of the consid-

ered scenarios, but is neither more effective nor less expensive if transportation costs are excluded. Assuming Telerehabilitation

does not have an effect on HRQOL utilities, SR-TR is the most cost-effectiveness treatment. All the performed sensitivity anal-

yses did not change the conclusions, but if transportation costs were excluded, the choice between SR-TR and SR is irrelevant.

The second theme was developed by Stefania Manetti, first-year Ph.D. student in health economics. Her research project aims at

identifying the limits of the traditional HTA methods, - usually applied ex-post, when the technology is ready to the market, and

employed for both pharmaceuticals and biomedical products -, and establishing approaches, models and operational tools of the

EHTA for Medical Devices (MD) under development. Biomedical companies have to revise capabilities and resources they need

as early as possible due to the high failure rates that affect the R&D process of MDs. This emergent gap could be filled by the

adoption of EHTA as a tool of multidimensional ex-ante evaluation. The results of a systematic literature review on the model-

based methodology, within the EHTA approach of MDs in development, were presented as the first step of this research work.

Out of 630 articles identified, only 6 application papers were identified. It emerges a general misunderstanding on which data

should be collected in the different R&D phases, lack of strong evidence, difficulty to merge different data source (animal, human,

phantom etc.), and uncertainty surrounding parameters of the early model. Furthermore, we stress on the very small amount of

application papers, as well as the lack of guidelines and criteria. The definition of an user-manual for EHTA is open for next re-

search steps.

ISPOR Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA) Student Members and Institute of Management of SSSA

Over the summer, ISPOR University of Georgia student chapter members worked to gain more experience and

develop relevant skills in different areas such as health economics modeling, medication adherence and market-

ing. Activities of the student members included:

One of our chapter members, Ms. Shada Kanchansuwan, Pharm. D. got a chance to do an internship with a

group of researchers at Monash University in Malaysia. It was a phenomenal experience for her. She came to

deeply understand the importance of evidence synthesis and how health research is actually used in improving

people's health. This was the first time that she knew exactly how the findings will be used in

a clinical setting and how it will actually help save lives. Knowing that people will benefit from

her research work, she is determined to be a good health services researcher and to conduct more useful

studies.

Ms. Surbhi Shah worked as a Research Assistant during the summer. She worked on the project entitled

“Impact of bubble packs on medication adherence” and has submitted the manuscript in JAPhA. She also

gained experience in developing and creating surveys on Qualtrics. Besides this, by working with Statistics Con-

sultancy Services, she has gained experience in handling SEER-Medicare data including different statistical

techniques. She has also learned to write small grants for the National Cancer Institute.

Mrs. Samah Al-Shatnawi joined one of Archway’s community research projects entitled “Saving Habersham”.

Habersham County, Georgia has significant drug abuse problems, hence the goal of the project was to build a

new treatment facility and prevention programs that can help curb the problem of drug addiction in Habersham.

This May-June, all our chapter members together worked on an abstract for Pharmaceutical Market Research

Group (PMRG) case study in which we introduced the concept of developing an app for diabetes. We are plan-

ning to work further on the idea this fall.

One of our important efforts was to plan a visit to Grady Hospital in Atlanta in August. This will provide us a

unique experience in understanding the hospital system, how different divisions operate, an understanding of

information technology and other automated systems required to support comprehensive pharmacy services

across the integrated health system. We could also get some internships/fellowships opportunity for next sum-

mer.

University of Georgia

Athens, Georgia, USA

Surbhi Shah Chapter President

Despite the majority of members leaving campus for summer internships and other opportunities, the University of Michigan (UM)

ISPOR Student Chapter remained busy throughout summer 2015 by attending the ISPOR 20th Annual International Meeting, complet-

ing “dates” through our annual Faculty Networking Auction, and gearing up for an exciting 15’-16’ academic year.

The ISPOR 20th Annual International Meeting was attended by eight members of the UM Student Chapter. In addition to participating

in ISPOR Student Network events, chapter member Yun Han was selected for a podium presentation on her paper: “The Effect of

Cost-Related Medication Nonadherence On the Decision of Taking Up Medicare Part-D Among Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries.” Mem-

bers also participated in the Student Research Competition, reaching the second round before elimination. In addition to conference

proceedings, UM members explored the city of Philadelphia and visited the Magic Gardens and Independence Hall, completing a well-

rounded conference experience to be repeated in Washington, DC in the coming year.

The UM ISPOR chapter hosts an annual Faculty Networking Auction which provides the opportunity for students and faculty to build

relationships outside the traditional classroom setting. Faculty volunteer their time and auction off “dates” for groups of students, with

all proceeds benefiting Relay for Life. “Dates” auctioned off this year included flights above Ann Arbor, skydiving, Flavor Tripping with

an Associate Dean, and perennial favorites such as cultural home-cooked meals with many faculty in the UM College of Pharmacy.

Students completed several “dates” throughout the summer and the chapter is already planning more unique experiences for the next

academic year.

Several new initiatives and changes have begun for the UM ISPOR Student Chapter during summer 15’. Dr. Steven Erickson was

named the new advisor for ISPOR/AMCP after serving as the advisor to UM AMCP for several years. Dr. Erickson brings a wealth of

experience having worked in several different areas of pharmacy practice and was selected in July by The Council for Disability Con-

cerns for a Certificate of Appreciation for his work in advocating for individuals with disabilities and encouraging their independence as

well as for training health care professionals to do the same.

In addition to naming a new chapter advisor, the UM ISPOR Student Chapter also sought out opportunities for expansion into the UM

School of Public Health (SoPH) and the area of specialty pharmacy. After reaching out to several faculty members focused on health

economics and outcomes research in the UM SoPH, UM ISPOR was able to develop relationships with key opinion leaders and re-

ceived many new membership requests from students in the SoPH. With the growth into the SoPH, UM ISPOR will now be a multidis-

ciplinary organization that will enable cross-disciplinary collaboration and growth. In the field of specialty pharmacy, UM ISPOR is

seeking to form a new committee with the backing of Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy and key leaders in the Michigan Pharmacists As-

sociation (MPA) and the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP). The new committee will host events throughout the aca-

demic year highlighting the growing field of specialty pharmacy to attract additional members to UM ISPOR.

Through the activities of Summer 15’, UM ISPOR strengthened their dedication to their core mission statements of exposing pharmacy

students to non-traditional practice opportunities and supporting the professional growth of students. The 15’-16’ academic year will

see growth both in the membership of UM ISPOR and also the wealth of learning experiences for members.

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Mark Yang, Chapter President

At the ISPOR 2015 meeting in Philadelphia, the URI ISPOR chapter met up for dinner and discussion at its

largest meeting ever. As we have collaborated with the URI ISPE Student Chapter, we have seen more

members become engaged in both chapters and our membership has grown. This could be a good idea for

other schools: collaborate with other student organizations in order to increase member engagement and

opportunities.

University of Rhode Island

Kingston, Rhode Island, USA

Rob McConeghy, Chapter President

On June 5th, Dr. Christian Dimaano, Associate Director, Health Economics & Outcomes Research at Bristol-

Myers Squibb, spoke to chapter members about his experience in industry. Dr. Dimaano discussed with stu-

dents the pros and cons of working in industry, what to expect during a job interview, and how to prepare for

the job market.

ISPOR University of Utah Student Chapter sponsored Yan Cheng's proposal celebration party in June 2015.

Yan is a fourth year PhD student of Department of Pharmacotherapy, University of Utah. She successfully

proposed her dissertation on June 9th, 2015. All staff and students of Department of Pharmacotherapy par-

ticipated and enjoyed her party. During the party, Yan shared her experience about proposal defense with

the other PhD students. She also introduced the timeline of the PhD program and talked about how she

found research idea for her dissertation.

On July 31st, ISPOR University of Utah Student Chapter members met with Mary Anne Berzins, Assistant

Vice President of Workforce Planning for Human Resources at the University of Utah, to learn about negotia-

tions during the job interview process. The meeting provided valuable information about the goals and per-

spectives of all parties involved in the negotiation. Students were introduced to many of the effective tech-

niques which make negotiation a more positive experience. Students were given an opportunity to practice

negotiating.

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Casey Tak, ISPOR Member

Chapter objectives:

The Student Chapter has the aim to promote, facilitate and share experiences in health economics, HTA, and outcome research

among students at Utrecht University.

Chapter activities:

Master classes are held four times a year with key note speakers open for all university faculty and students with an interest in health

economics. Alongside the master classes, in-depth workshops will be organized for student chapter members. Members will also be

updated about interesting topics, conferences and other activities.

Utrecht University (UU) is a university in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It is the biggest and one of the oldest universities in the Nether-

lands, founded in 1636. The UU ISPOR Student Chapter was established in January of 2015 by a unique collaboration between facul-

ty and students within the university’s school of pharmacy. It is the result of the growing interest in health economics and HTA within

the school and curriculum.

This interest was very noticeable on April 2nd, when the chapter organized it’s kick-off event. Key speakers were our very own faculty

advisors but also Iga Lispka MD, former head of Polish HTA who came all the way from Poland . A festive chapter launch and intro-

duction of ISPOR was given by Wim Goettsch PhD, current ISPOR member and ISPOR Board of Directors. The great turnout and

enthusiastic responses promise a great future and we are looking forward to many more successful activities.

President: Renske ten Ham

Vice-President: Rick Vreman

Treasurer/Secretary: Joost Geenen

Faculty Advisors: Anke Hövels & Geert Frederix

ISPOR SC Utrecht University Logo

Top left: Background: Renske ten Ham & Joost Geenen, Front: Geert Frederix & Anke Hövels At the Kick-off event Top right: Iga Lispka, MD Bottom left: Wim Goettsch, PhD Bottom right: Drinks after the kick-off event

Utrecht University

Utrecht, Netherlands

Renske ten Ham, Chapter President

2015–2016 NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Julie Patterson (Co-Chair)

Virginia Commonwealth University

Doug Thornton (Co-Chair)

West Virginia University

Michael Kwong

Touro University California

Michelle Vitko

University of North Carolina

Guan Yanyi

National University of Singapore

Elisabeth Oehrlein (Student Network Chair)

University of Maryland

Zeba Khan (Student Network Advisor)