THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

As a Senior Medical Writer, I participated in the 2024 annual conference of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) to lead a roundtable on protocol QC and keep up to date on trends and best practices in documents related to clinical research. While many of the best attended sessions were related to the current and upcoming use of AI in the field of medical writing, there were plenty of sessions and workshops (as well as discussions during the protocol QC roundtable) that served as reminders that it is still the human aspect of projects that make the greatest impact in the timeliness and quality of a document or project.

Members of PROMETRIKA’s Data Management (DM) team attended the recent Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM) conference, held in Boston this year. This annual conference brings together the global data management community for discussions of the latest developments and challenges faced by DM professionals.

This year, PROMETRIKA team members have attended many industry conferences in which the hot topics always seem to be AI and automation of processes. Of course, the innovation cool crowd is excited to jump on board. What has really piqued my attention are the discussions amongst technology vendors about automating SDTM mapping. PROMETRIKA, as a full-service CRO, has a strong focus on biostatistics, statistical, and SDTM programming. Since SDTM mapping is a major part of the programming work that we do, I asked myself “Do we need a new business model for automating SDTM programming?” After hearing multiple viewpoints on the subject, I’ve come away with a list of pros and cons of automating SDTM mapping.

I had the opportunity to attend the 2023 PHUSE conference and explore the latest advancements in clinical data analysis through engaging workshops and presentations. Key topics included CDISC Analysis Results Standards, SDTM mapping recommendation engines, incremental automation using machine learning, and Leadership and professional development. The conference provided valuable insights into emerging trends and technologies that are shaping the future of clinical research.