ISPOR Student Network Newsletter

ISPOR STUDENT NETWORK|

VOLUME 8 ISSUE 2

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2017

ISPOR Student Network Newsletter CHEERS TO THE NEW YEAR! VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2, FEBRUARY 2017


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VOLUME 8 ISSUE 2

ISPOR STUDENT NETWORK NEWSLETTER

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Happy New Year! Student Corner Student Network Educational Webinar “Estimating the Economic Burden of Illness” February 24, 2017, 12-1pm ET Speaker: Eberechukwu Onukwugha, MS, PhD Associate Professor University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy Baltimore, Maryland, USA Register: http://bit.ly/SNWebinarCostRegression This webinar will explore two commonly used approaches to estimate the cost of illness, i.e., the matched-control and regression method. The speaker will define and distinguish the two approaches and present an applied example from the published literature. After attending the webinar, participants will be able to define and distinguish the two approaches and identify model misspecification tests that are relevant to cost regression analysis.

STUDENT CORNER STUDENT NETWORK: A YEAR IN REVIEW ISPOR ACTIVITY GRANTS UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS CHAPTER UPDATES MERCER UNIVERSITY RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ISPOR KSV-KBIPER. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ISPOR HUNGARY NIPER ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY NEW PROFESSIONALS NEWSLETTER QUIZ

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Student Member Interest Survey Please take a few minutes of your time to help us better understand the needs and interests of ISPOR student members.

To participate in this important survey please click on the box below:

Your participation in completing this survey will help ISPOR continue to improve our services and provide direction for both career development and educational opportunities. We hope that you will take a few moments to participate in this survey. As a thank you for your time and participation, you will have the chance to be entered in a drawing to win one of (5) five $30 Amazon Gift Cards.

SURVEY DEADLINE: MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 If you have questions, please email [email protected]

Important Deadlines February 24 – Student Network Educational Webinar – “Estimating the Economic Burden of Illness” March 2 – Call for Nominations email to be sent to Chapter Presidents March 19 – Deadline to submit design for T-Shirt Competition March 20 – Invitation for Council Dinner at Annual International Dinner sent March 22 – Student Travel Grant Application Deadline (Annual International Meeting) March 23 – Deadline for 6th Latin America Abstract Submission March 24 – Student Network Chapter President Teleconference 12-1pm March 28 – Winner for T-Shirt Competition chosen and notified March 30 – Deadline for Outstanding Student Chapter March 31 – Deadline to RSVP for Council Dinner March 31 – Deadline to submit a Nomination for Student Network Chair April 3 – Student Research Competition Deadline to enter your University April 6 – Election email being sent out to students about voting for the next Student Network Chair April 7 – Student Network Chapter President Teleconference 12-1pm April 20 – Voting closed for election of Student Network Chair April 21 – Students notified of results of Student Network Chair election


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Student Network: A Year in Review In 2016, the ISPOR Student Network welcomed 14 new chapters globally, a 15% increase from last year. We currently have five new chapters in the Asia-Pacific region, five new chapters in North America, and three new chapters in Latin America. This is partly due to a new chapter formation and recruitment project combining the efforts of the Membership Outreach committee, Webmaster committee, and ISPOR staff. Because of individual and group efforts, as well as a chapter-member recruitment campaign, the ISPOR Student Network grew by more than 1,000 members during the year. The ISPOR Student Network continues its dedication to support students and their local chapters with the vision of “developing leaders in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) and building the workforce across multiple disciplines of outcomes research through the engagement of students.” The Student Network’s committees collaborated with the ISPOR staff to launch many activities and initiatives that align perfectly with ISPOR organizational and strategic goals:

Picture: Eman Biltaji, ISPOR Student Network Chair

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Scientific and Research Excellence: Over 930 students attended the three conferences held in 2016. Of which, 895 students presented their research and 50 travel grants were awarded. Best student podium and poster research presentations were also recognized.

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Member Engagement: Twenty-two local student chapters received activity grants for a total of $8,400 of financial support to increase student engagement in HEOR activities. ISPOR recognized the outstanding performance of our students and local chapters at the annual meeting. In addition, the Student Network launched a member-get-a-member student recruitment campaign and awarded the top three chapters with the largest percentage growth.

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Education and Training: Educational webinars were presented throughout the year on topics not routinely discussed in students’ training. Seven webinars were presented and archived on the Student Network website (https://www.ispor.org/student/student_webinars.asp). Topics ranged from career development to using outcomes research in health care decisions.

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Communication and Collaboration: This year, the Student Network noted the exceptional collaborations between the committees. For example, the Educational committee collaborated with the Survey committee to create a list of topics that students are interested to learn more about in upcoming webinars. Additionally, the Communication committee continuously facilitated communication between committees, the Student Council, and ISPOR staff.

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Organizational Values: Our network has been working on professional standards and receiving input from members on ways to improve our performance. These values are preparing our student members for the next stage of their professional career.

As we begin 2017, the Student Network promises to continue to grow globally, to plan educational activities that will enrich the student membership, and to support successful initiatives that align with the organizational values and goals of the Society. It will be important to continuously evaluate our performance to identify potential ways to improve our efforts in order to provide our valuable student members with the most enriching experience at this foundational stage of their careers.


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ISPOR Activity Grants Virginia Commonwealth University “Lunch and Learn” and “Meet the Expert’ sessions By Hrishikesh Kale, Chapter President Courtesy to the activity grant by ISPOR Student Network, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) - ISPOR chapter organized ‘Lunch and Learn’ and ‘Meet the Expert’ events in the Fall 2016 semester. The overall goal of this initiative was to invite speakers from academia and industry, provide an opportunity for students to network and learn about recent developments in the field of health outcomes. About 10 graduate students and three faculty members attended these events. In September 2016, we invited Dr. Parinaz Ghaswalla, Principal at The Moran Company located in Washington, DC. She presented her seminar on “Life after Graduate School: How to Navigate the Transition into a Consulting Role”. In her presentation, Dr. Ghaswalla advised current graduate students on skill development and training that will help them succeed as consultants. She also emphasized on opportunities and challenges of working in a consulting environment. Further, she provided an overview of her research in health policy, geriatric pharmacotherapy and her experience working with Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) as a client. Followed by her seminar, there was a casual ‘Lunch and Learn’ session with graduate students. All attendees enjoyed lunch boxes ordered from Apple Spice and took opportunity of this informal session to ask specific questions of their interest.

Picture: Graduate students, faculty, and Dr. Patkar

For ‘Meet the Expert’ sessions, we invited our alumna Dr. Anuprita Patkar, Director of Health Economics at Ethicon in October 2016 and Dr. David Wheeler, Professor of Biostatistics from VCU School of Medicine in November 2016. Dr. Patkar who graduated in 2006, shared with us her experience first as Scientist at Xcenda and then as Director at Ethicon. Her discussion focused on health

Picture: Graduate students and faculty during Lunch and Learn

economics and market access considerations related to medical devices. She spoke about the rapidly evolving medical device industry and highlighted differences in the regulation and pricing of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Upon request from the new graduate students, she further described roles and responsibilities of professionals working in health economics, market access, pricing and reimbursement departments within a pharmaceutical company. In the second half of the discussion, she stressed on importance of publications, writing skills and networking as pathways to a successful career in the industry. In the second session, Dr.Wheeler presented on ‘Introduction to Bayesian Statistics’ and ‘Spatial Data Analysis’. First part of his presentation served as a good introduction to Bayesian Analysis to graduate students. The second part of his presentation focused on application of geographical information system to health services research. Dr. Wheeler gave a number of interesting examples of studying health disparities and patterns of care using geographical data. Because of positive feedback and enthusiasm from chapter members and faculty, we plan to continue with our efforts to invite distinguished speakers in the spring semester.


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University of Maryland Baltimore Attending a Pharmacy and Therapeutics Meeting By: Anna Hung, Chapter President How are formulary decisions made in the real world? Our graduate students had answered this question during our most recent field trip to a local health plan’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) meeting in Washington, DC from September 15-16, 2016. Generally closed to the public, these P&T meetings are where payers decide whether to cover medications, and whether or not to require certain prior authorization criteria before coverage of a medication. Our student chapter was very excited when we were given the opportunity to attend. Similar to the interprofessional nature of the P&T committee, which consists of physicians, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists, the 10 students who attended also represented the schools of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy at the University of Maryland Baltimore. This is also in line with the large push by many health professional schools for more interdisciplinary activities. “This was the first time I attended such a meeting. It was really great to see how a panel of experts discussed real world evidence and reached consensus before making a formulary decision,” says Aakash Gandhi, a first-year PhD student in the Pharmaceutical Health Services Research Department. Students spend so much time training to conduct research that is impactful for clinicians, policymakers, and other decision makers.

University of Illinois Chicago By Earnest Law, Chapter President On October 7 2016, Dr. Kyle Null, PharmD, PhD was invited to speak to members of the ISPOR and International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) student chapters through teleconference as a career development activity. Dr. Null is currently an Associate Director HEOR at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He shared his past and current experiences in academia, consulting, and managed care settings, and answered questions regarding the similarities and differences in each setting. He fielded student questions regarding challenges in communicating HEOR evidence to payers, transitioning from academia to industry, critical skills needed for each HEOR sector, as well as advice on continuous career advancement post-graduation. More than 10 students attended the lunch event and the feedback was very positive. The UIC ISPOR student chapter is grateful to the ISPOR Student Network for the chapter activity grant that helped support this event. Pictures right: UIC students attending the presentation by Dr. Null

Picture: UMB students attended a P&T meeting at the U.S. Capital

Seeing how coverage decisions are made in the real world helped our students to understand how their research in the future could affect coverage decisions, which can have a wide and immediate effect on millions of people’s lives. Tham Le, another first-year PhD student states, “this experience consolidates my interest in creating important evidence, including post-approval drug comparative effectiveness research, which can be used in the formulary and medical policy decision making process.”

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University of Arizona By Mira Patel, Chapter President With support from an ISPOR activity grant, the University of Arizona Student Chapter started the academic year by hosting their first educational event in August. Dr. Sandipan Bhattacharjee, a researcher with experience in large database analysis, gave a comprehensive presentation, which involved talking about some of the databases freely available to obtain data for analysis, an introduction to some of the common methodological procedures used in large data analysis, and a discussion of the SAS code employed. This was followed by an interactive demonstration of some of his work, and an informative Q&A session. Due to the positive reception of this topic, we are planning to arrange a large database analysis event for next semester to build on the introduction we have received, and possibly gain some ‘hands-on’ experience of large data analysis. In September, we were fortunate to receive a visit from Karl Gregor and Whitney Pratt. Karl is an alumnus of our school and now serves as a Managing Director at Optum and Whitney is an actuarial consultant, also working at Optum. We started the day off with a continental breakfast and discussion with the students, faculty, Karl, and Whitney about all of our educational and career backgrounds and interests, followed by Karl’s insights on the key skills he learned at graduate school that he felt were important for successful career development. Whitney brought a new perspective to the discussion, by describing her role as an actuary in a healthcare organization. The day ended with a lunch with the students, Karl, and Whitney with an informal Q&A session. We are looking forward to welcoming Karl and Whitney back to the school later in the year to continue the conversation about their work at Optum. Moving into October, we received two guest presentations on the use of RedCap. Redcap is a new database program that the University of Arizona has recently subscribed to, that may be of interest to our members for future research projects. The first guest was Terry Smith from the College of Medicine, who explained and demonstrated some of the features of RedCap and how to use it. This was followed by a presentation from a clinical faculty member Dr. Patanwala who provided an overview and demonstration of a research project he had undertaken using RedCap. Both of these events allowed us to engage with faculty on how to conduct prospective data collection and input in a more efficient manner. Our chapter is always grateful to those who are willing to spend time discussing their experiences with our members, and appreciative of the ISPOR Student Network for providing the funds to host our three educational events for this semester.

Picture: UA ISPOR members receiving a presentation from Karl Gregor and Whitney Pratt about their experiences and current roles at Optum.

Picture: UA ISPOR members receiving a presentation from Terry Smith about the RedCap Database.

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Maastricht University An introduction in Budget Impact Analysis By Ingrid Kremer, Chapter President On November 17, 2016, the student chapter of Maastricht University hosted a seminar and workshop about Budget Impact Analysis. In 2016, the Dutch Health Care Institute presented new guidelines for conducting economic evaluations in healthcare in the Netherlands, which included a chapter on Budget Impact Analysis. Because of the relevance of this topic for other professionals in health technology assessment – in addition to the members of our student chapter – we organized the course with the Department for Young Professionals from the Dutch Association for Technology Assessment in Health Care (Young-NVTAG). We invited two experts on Budget Impact Analysis to teach students, PhD students, junior researchers and other young professionals from academia and industry. Dr. Mark Nuijten, CEO of A2M for International Consultancy Services and former Core Member of the ISPOR Taskforce on Good Research Practices for Budget Impact Analysis, started with an introduction to Budget Impact Analysis by emphasizing its importance and relevance for the decision making context. Next, Dr. Nuijten explained the methods for conducting a Budget Impact Analysis. After Dr. Nuijten’s presentation, we put theory into practice in a workshop by Joost Enzing. Joost Enzing works as an advisor at the Dutch National Health Care Institute and was a member of the project group that revised the Dutch guidelines for health economic evaluations. In groups, we worked on a case about a lifestyle intervention for obesity, which confronted us with the challenges of retrieving the data for the analysis. It provided us with useful hands-on experience. Shortly after discussing the results, Dr. Nuijten concluded the course with some critical notes about conducting a Budget Impact Analysis and how to handle uncertainty. Almost 50 students and young professionals attended the seminar and workshop from Maastricht University and parts of Netherlands. It was a great opportunity to learn how to conduct a Budget Impact Analysis and to meet other professionals in Health Technology Assessment in the Netherlands.

Picture: Students and young professionals participating in the Budget Impact Analysis workshop and seminar.

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University of Mississippi Educational Documentary Screening By Nilesh Gangan, Chapter President On November 18, 2016, the UMI-ISPOR student chapter organized an ‘Educational Documentary Screening’ with the support of an ISPOR Chapter Activity Grant. Graduate students and faculty members attended the event from the Department of Pharmacy Administration and a PharmD student from the University of Iowa, School of Pharmacy. All the attendees watched a one-hour BBC documentary titled ‘The Price of Life’ by Adam Wishart. The documentary talks about the rationing of high cost drugs by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) based on NHS budgets and how the decision making affects the patients, the manufacturing company and the NHS itself. It follows the cancer drug, Revlimid, an analogue of thalidomide and a promising drug for treating myeloma patients, as it goes through the approvals process for the NHS to cover the drug in the UK. The documentary highlighted how the costeffectiveness results play an integral part of the decision making apart from needs of patients with myeloma and budgetary limitations of the NHS.

Picture: UMI-ISPOR chapter members, students and faculty watching the documentary

After watching the documentary, the students and the faculty members engaged in a healthy discussion on the current pricing strategy employed by the pharmaceutical industry, how much life is really worth, and whether it is affordable for the society. In addition, alternative pricing strategy and the role of price controls were also discussed. We ended the activity by enjoying cookies and ice cream. Overall, it was a beneficial experience for students to improve their understanding on the use of health economics in decision making.

University of Calgary By Elena Lopatina, Chapter President On October 3, 2016, the University of Calgary ISPOR Student Chapter hosted a lunch-and-learn session on “Career paths for graduates in Health Economics and Health Services Research”, which brought together students and a panel of leaders from industry, government and academia to discuss potential career opportunities and pathways in the areas of health services research and economics. This event started with an introduction session about ISPOR and the University of Calgary ISPOR Student Chapter, its goals, our Faculty Advisor Dr. Deborah Marshall and opportunities ISPOR provides for student members. Afterwards, we proceeded with the panel session. The panel included Dr. Andy Chuck, the Director of Economic Evaluation and Analytics at the Institute of Health Economics, Alberta, Canada; Dr. Don Juzwishin, the Director of Health Technology Assessment and Innovation at Alberta Health Services; John Woolcott, Senior Manager, Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Pfizer Canada, and Ursula Mann, Stakeholder Engagement Manager at Janssen Inc. Each of the speakers shared a story of their education, career pathway and current role; as well as, their experience of working in a particular area (industry, government and academia), while providing suggestions for graduate students interested in working within these areas. Interestingly, most speakers did not plan on working in their current areas, rather their career paths surprisingly found them. The panel members agreed that the current job market is very competitive. Among most valuable characteristics for being successful, speakers mentioned - being proactive, be open to changes and continuous learning, communication skills and time-management. The panel discussion was followed by an interactive questions and discussion session. The session was highly informative and introduced students to various options available to graduates in Health Economics and Health Services Research. We received highly positive feedback from the attendees, who wanted to see more events like this.


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University of Michigan ISPOR/AMCP Etiquette Dinner By Jerry Li, Chapter President University of Michigan’s ISPOR and AMCP chapters together held its annual etiquette dinner for students and faculty at the Michigan League on November 17, 2016. ISPOR/AMCP executive board members Jerry Li, Ryan Tarpey, and Evan Muller arranged and hosted the dinner. The etiquette dinner was designed to educate students on proper dining practice at professional business dinners. The formal evening event involved 30-minutes of professional networking followed by an etiquette lecture by University of Michigan Clinical Associate Professor Dr. Michael Kraft. The event started with a mocktail and networking session. Pharmacy students practiced “elevator speeches” with university faculty and guests from Spectrum Health. The faculty would then evaluate each student’s performance. If the faculty deemed the conversation appropriate, the student was handed a “business card” ticket to use in a raffle at the end of the night for a free meal! The newly implemented system this year was to stimulate student and faculty interactions. Overall, the faculty were very impressed with students’ performance and provided positive feedback on student engagement. After the mocktail session, students and faculty sat in tables of eight, with two faculty members per table. One faculty member served as the table lead and presented various scenarios that encouraged discussions on the best ways to resolve each problem. Throughout the evening, faculty and guests shared their personal experiences and advice with students.

“This dinner was interactive, comprehensive, and a great learning experience overall” - Ricky Yin, Class of 2019 The 2016 Etiquette Dinner provided 62 pharmacy faculty and students with a night of enthusiastic discussions and networking opportunities. The ISPOR Student Chapter and Dr. Ryan Foster of Spectrum Health generously funded this event.

Picture: ISPOR executive board from left to right: Evan Muller, Jerry Li, Kaylee Miu, Michael Tsai, Ryan Tarpey, and Jon Cohen

University of North Texas Student-Faculty Research Panel By Mehdi Namil, Chapter President In fall 2016, University of North Texas Health Science Center successfully hosted our Second Annual Faculty-Student Research Panel with the help of an ISPOR grant. The objectives of the research panel were to:  Evoke beneficial dialogue among research faculty members and pharmacy students.  Cultivate student-faculty research collaborations to promote intellectual interests.  Explain the benefits of engaging in pharmaceutical research to extend scientific knowledge and skills.  Provide students the opportunity to sign-up for research in the following summer and/or fall sessions. Picture: 2nd Annual Student-Faculty Research Panel


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University of North Texas (cont.) Panelists gave a 5-minute presentation discussing:  Current research they are participating in  Let students know whether you are looking for help  What commitments and responsibilities would be expected from the student and how it could benefit them Questions we asked the panelists include:  What are some of the biggest benefits of doing research as a pharmacy student?  Describe how pharmacy research has benefited you personally in the past.  For students interested in residencies and fellowships, how beneficial is it to do research? o Can conducting research make you stand out?  If you had unlimited funds, unlimited resources, what would you research?  What are some of the most important qualities a student could have in wanting to take on a research project and being successful?  How did you get involved in your very first research project!  As a mentor, how do you try to bring out the best in a student?

Through this event, we had panelists present their research and experience to students. After the panel, we held a reception to give students the chance to talk to faculty afterwards to become involved in research and possibly sign up for research. We would like to thank ISPOR Student Network for providing the support to put this event on and we look forward to putting on more events like this in the future.

Picture: Panel participants advise students on research tips

Mehdi’s Tips for Students Wanting to get into Research 

Ask yourself what do you want to get out of the research project

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Find a topic that you are generally interested in

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Do not be afraid to ask for help

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Find a mentor who you get along with in terms of personality, outlook, and goals.

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Set SMART goals. o Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound

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A good mentor + An interesting project = A rewarding experience.

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Chapter Updates Mercer University Research Skills Workshop By Michelle Vu, Chapter President Our Mercer University ISPOR chapter hosted its 2nd Annual ISPOR Research Skills Workshop. ISPOR aims to promote a research career path for pharmacists within the field of pharmacoeconomics and health outcomes. Members in Mercer ISPOR seek extra-curricular reinforcement of research skills, through internships and research projects. This annual event serves as a resource for students to build a research foundation, and the Executive Board this year chose to outreach to students of other health sciences programs. We invited three speakers from varying backgrounds (health outcomes research, drug information, and pharmaceutical sciences) to present on the topics of data analysis, literature interpretation and poster presentation.

Picture: 33 students attended the Research Skills Workshop

On November 9, 33 students across disciplines from the PharmD, PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Master of Public Health programs attended the two-hour workshop. Students attending the session were able to gain knowledge on the following competencies:    

Utilize statistical analysis software to analyze and report data Categorize resources for literature searches Communicate findings in the literature with healthcare providers Format and present a research poster

Having a basic research foundation will expand opportunities for students to conduct independent projects, enroll in the research elective, and compete for internship opportunities in their respective fields. This workshop represents the first interdisciplinary event hosted by Mercer ISPOR. We enjoyed hosting our attendees and allowing students in different disciplines build a common research foundation and ultimately improve patient health.

Picture: PhD PharmSci candidate Meghan Hibicke provides humorous poster tips & trick


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Rutgers University By Daniel Simmons, Chapter President Our Rutgers ISPOR Chapter activities for the semester started with our participation in ‘Leaders in RX event’. Members on our Eboard participated in a panel discussion with a guest speaker from Bristol Myers Squibb, where we discussed leadership skills with younger students. This event was followed by our participation in Pharmacy Involvement Fair and our General Interest Meeting.

Currently, several of our members are working on a cost per responder model comparing the cost effectiveness of new therapies in rheumatoid arthritis. We are hoping to present a poster on our findings at the upcoming International Meeting in Boston. For the upcoming semester, we are working on planning potential events with speakers from Roche and Merck.

Picture: ISPOR Chapter President Dan participated in a panel discussion on leadership. Picture: Rutgers Meningitis B vaccination outreach

One of our goals for the semester was to focus on improving community outreach and community service. We discussed ways that we could use our knowledge to benefit the community, and planned two exciting outreach events. Our first outreach event was in response to a Meningitis B outbreak at the university. We collaborated with other pharmacy organizations and set up tables at the student center to teach students that vaccination is a cost effective way to prevent diseases and improve public health. We also organized an event at a local community center for senior citizens where we taught about Medicare enrollment and educated seniors on the costs of prescriptions and on the best ways to maximize their insurance coverage. In addition to community outreach, we strove to educate our members with professional development events. Our first event was a presentation from our former ISPOR president Alex Wei who works in Medical Affairs at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA. Alex gave an engaging talk about his work on several health economics projects and taught members about career opportunities in Biotech. We also hosted an event with our local AMCP chapter where we had a professor and pharmacoepidemiology researcher from a local hospital review statistical techniques for designing outcomes research studies. Lastly, we hosted an event in conjunction with Novartis Pharmaceuticals where Grace Chun, a post-doctoral fellow in Health Economics and Outcomes Research discussed her work, provided career advice, and taught us about the project management skills she uses in health economics projects.

ISPOR KSV-KBIPER, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. World Pharmacist’s Day By Pritesh Thakkar, Chapter President ISPOR KSV-KBIPER student chapter had organized a common health screening program for pharmacists on “World Pharmacist’s Day” where 210 pharmacists were screened for their common health parameters viz. height, weight, BMI, Blood pressure, waist: hip ratio, and pharmacist counseling. Commonly teachers/faculty take care of their students but this time ISPOR KSV-KBIPER student chapter had decided to take care of teaching and non- teaching staff of KSV Constituent College where 70 staff members took part and were counseled for their health related problems. Activities: Height, Weight, BMI, Blood Pressure, Waist:Hip Ratio, Hearing Test (Rinne & Weber Test and Audiogram), Eye Test (Snellen Eye Test), FEV1, Locomotion Function and OTC medication awareness.

Picture: ISPOR KSV-KBIPER Chap


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University of Washington By Blythe Adamson, Chapter President

Teams of four 10th graders pitched innovative solutions to problems in disease areas including HIV, TB, and malaria. ISPOR chapter members discussed career opportunities, mentored students, and provided feedback on the presentations.

The University of Washington (UW) ISPOR Student Chapter continued its commitment to expanding membership, collaborating with other graduate student organizations, serving the community, and promoting pharmacoeconomic activities. The UW Student Chapter hosted a coffee and brunch for graduate students to meet with ISPOR Executive Director Nancy Berg during her visit to Seattle. Ten students attended the event and shared their research interests with Ms. Berg. After sharing the story of her career path, Ms. Berg offered valuable career advice to students and suggested ways our student chapter could take advantage of the incredible resources offered by ISPOR. Attendees felt honored that Ms. Berg took valuable time away from meetings with faculty and collaborators to invest in getting to know our students. In collaboration with Academy Health and AMCP student chapters, our ISPOR chapter co-hosted a Student Chapter Networking Hour at a local Seattle brewery. More than 30 Master, PhD, and PharmD students from the departments of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutics, Health Services, and Epidemiology attended. ISPOR, Academy Health, and AMCP chapter Presidents each spoke on benefits of joining their society. The recruiting effort and networking across academic departments and professional societies was a huge success.

Picture: The UW ISPOR chapter welcomed four new officers for 2016-2017, seen here taking a break from studying and finding time for yoga next to Lake Washington. Left to right: Erik Landas, Elisabeth Brouwer, Blythe Adamson, Nathaniel Hendrix, and Shalak Gunjal.

In order to invest in the next generation of scientists and support our local community, UW ISPOR student chapter members volunteered at a local Seattle public school and served as expert judges for The Nathan Hale High School Global Health Summit.

Picture: Dr. Louis Garrison, ISPOR President and University of Washington Student Chapter Advisor, led a vision and strategy session with ISPOR officers that included many tacos.

In operations and leadership, we welcomed the following new officers for 2016-2017: Nathaniel Hendrix (Year 2 PhD) as Vice President, Elizabeth Brouwer (Year 2 PhD) as Secretary, Erik Landas (Year 1 PhD) as Treasurer, Shalak Gunjal (Year 1 PhD) as Public Relations Director (see picture). ISPOR officers started the fall with a vision and strategy planning session led by ISPOR President and UW Student Chapter Advisor Dr. Louis Garrison. The session away from campus built camaraderie among the officers and was successful thanks to Dr. Garrison buying everyone tacos (see picture). We redrafted our UW ISPOR Student Chapter Constitution in the fall and registered with the UW Registered Student Organizations (RSO). This provided us with a website to promote our student chapter across the UW campus. Our chapter successfully acquired over $500 in funding from the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) and purchased a refrigerator, movable white board, soda stream, and universal charging station that have made our graduate student lounge more comfortable and functional. This spring we look forward to continuing our community service and engagement with the Seattle Public Schools with our ISPOR student chapter participating in STEM Career Day and Science Fair judging. UW ISPOR Student Chapter began planning for a Community Conversations meeting open to the public on the topic of drug pricing.

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University of Arizona By Rhys Axon With the support from an ISPOR Chapter Activity Grant, the University of Arizona Student Chapter began the academic year with our ‘large database’ event. Guest speakers: Dr. Sandipan Bhattacharjee, who talked about the databases used in research, and the methods involved; Karl Gregor and Whitney Pratt of Optum, who talked about successful career development; and Terry Smith and Dr. Sid Patanwala who talked about RedCap, a new database program that has become popular within the health science departments at our university. In September, we invited Daniel Lee from the University Library to our regular seminar session to give a talk on predatory and online publishing. This was an informative session that both students and invited faculty members found useful. The guidance and resources offered by Mr. Lee will hopefully alert members to any predatory publishers in the future, as we start publishing work, whilst also helping us identify appropriate journals in which to publish. In October, we were also pleased to welcome Dr. Julie Donohue, a faculty member from the University of Pittsburgh who gave lectures on “Physician Adoption using Network Analysis” and “Medicare Part D and Medicaid Prescription Drug Programs – Can They Survive in the Long Run?” Also in October, four of our members along with one of our faculty members travelled to the International Society for Quality in Healthcare conference in Tokyo, Japan to present some our recent work. We were proud to present a total of three posters and one podium presentation from our group. We were also excited to meet with recent alums from our program, and colleagues from nearby institutions. In November, some of our members volunteered for the 2016 Walk to End Alzheimers as our philanthropic event for the semester. We helped hand out flowers to people (directly and indirectly affected with Alzheimers) to write messages on in support of individuals facing this condition. In addition, Shannon Thor visited the college to give a talk on her experiences as a pharmacist working at the FDA and some of the opportunities that are available to us if we wanted to pursue a career in this area.

Picture: UA ISPOR members visiting a temple in Tokyo, Japan after attending the International Society for Quality in HealthCare (ISQua) International Conference.

In December, two of our members travelled to the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) mid-year conference in Las Vegas to present their work on pain selfmanagement and cohort studies involving transitions of care and diabetes readmissions. Our final event of the year was the annual December holiday party. As usual, members and faculty of our department gathered for a fun-filled evening of a potluck dinner, cookie decorating, and games.

Picture: UA ISPOR Chapter President-elect, Rhys Axon, presents his poster at the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) mid-year conference in Las Vegas.


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ISPOR Hungary By Andras Harsanyi, Chapter President ISPOR Hungary Student Chapter was established in March 2016 by Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (ELTE) in collaboration with University of Pécs (PTE). Over the past year, we organized some events and lectures for students who were interested in health economics and health system planning. The fourth student chapter meeting was held September 30, 2016 to October 1, 2016 at PTE, with around 35 participants from ELTE and PTE. Our two-day-meeting was dedicated to bring students of ELTE and students of PTE closer. On the first day, András Harsányi, Chapter President presented opening thoughts. This was followed by presentations by Prof. Dr. Imre Boncz (Head of Institute of Health Insurance, University of Pécs, Faculty of Health Sciences; Presentation title: “Current challenges in health policy”) and Dr. Antal Zemplényi (Director of Health Finances and Controlling, Medical Center of the University of Pécs; Presentation title: “DRG-based hospital funding and management in practice”). Following the lectures, there was a discussion led by the Moderator, Dr. Dóra Endrei (Deputy General Director of Clinical Center, University of Pécs), where students had opportunity to ask questions and to talk about the current issues of our profession. Participants took part in a dinner after the meeting, where they had an opportunity to develop professional network, exchange experiences and have informal discussions. On the second day of our meeting, we visited the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter.

Picture: ISPOR-Hungary Chapter

Picture: Social!

NIPER By Ruchi Singhal, Chapter President The NIPER student chapter of ISPOR at Mohali, India celebrated its 3rd Annual Day on December 18, 2016. This year’s event aimed to acknowledge chapter achievements and bring forth the talent of the members during a cultural event. Dr. K.K Bhutani, Director-NIPER, consented to be chief guest for the event. In his introductory address, the Faculty Advisor Dr. Pramil Tiwari, expressed his satisfaction with the consistent growth that he has witnessed. “Students need to come forward with innovative ideas to keep the activities vibrant,” said Prof. Tiwari. The secretary of the society presented the annual progress report of the society. The two significant achievements this year were the chapter winning the annual T-shirt design competition and the Newsletter crossword competition. Dr.Tiwari addressed & appreciated the enthusiasm of the student members. Specifically, he underlined that through such forums, students not only gain knowledge but also get the opportunity to work in teams and this acts as a primer before they get into employment.

Picture: NIPER chapter celebrates ISPOR achievements with culture

Certificates of Appreciation where given to those who presented a seminar during the educational meetings. The topics for these meetings were “Health Technology Assessment”, “Using Microsoft Excel Effectively”, and “Endnote Referencing”. The office bearers also received a certificate for their honorary services. We concluded evening with cultural performances, refreshments and award ceremony.


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St. John’s University By Mona Nili, Chapter President The STJ- ISPOR student chapter commenced fall 2016 semester with a lecture on “Introduction to Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)”. The lecturer guests were Dr. Anita Soni and Steven Machlin from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This event provided an opportunity for the graduate and the PharmD students to learn about MEPS database to conduct health services research. During the first week of September, we had a social lunch event to introduce the new students to our current students and faculty members. This allowed all students to interact with each other. Moreover, it helped the new students to learn more about our ISPOR student chapter.

Associate Director of US Health Economics and Outcomes, Research at Novartis. Her presentation was about “Pharmaceutical Environment and Heath Economics & Outcome Research”. She gave us a clear idea of research conducted by big pharmaceutical companies and type of opportunities available after graduation. Taking a break from our busy finals schedules, we held our “Holiday Party” to celebrate the holidays together. We are all looking forward to have an active year filled with philanthropic, networking, and professional events in 2017.

During the last week of September, we were honored to have Dr. Kevin Lu from University of South Carolina as our guest speaker. The title of his lecture was "The Effects of Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plans in Health Care Utilization and Expenditures among Elderly Cancer Survivors”. This lecture gave us valuable information about using pharmacoeconomics and pharmacoepidemiology concepts to conduct a health outcome research. In October, STJ- ISPOR student chapter members actively participated in providing services to two elementary schools in Queens. We assisted with painting, organizing the library, cleaning the school, landscaping and maintenance to help create an active and creative learning environment for the students. Our aim was to give the children the opportunity to enjoy an organized and clean educational environment. During October, we also had our alumni, Ms. Neetu Agashivala, M.S., as our guest speaker. She currently works as

Picture: STJ-ISPOR chapter members with other St. John’s University students in our service day

Picture: STJ-ISPOR chapter members with Dr. Lu from South Carolina University as our guest speaker


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New Professionals Be “GLAD” GROW your network LEARN from HEOR experts ADVANCE your career DEVELOP your knowledge Are you graduating soon? Do you wish to stay engaged with ISPOR and have access to the latest information and trends of the HEOR field? ISPOR is proud to announce the launch of the New Professionals membership category, which is designed to transition former student members, who have three years or less of experience, prior to them becoming a standard member. Members who wish to join as a New Professional must read and accept the ISPOR Code of Ethics and are eligible to remain in the category of membership for a total of 3 years at the reduced rate of $100. After the third year of being a New Professional member, the individual will be transitioned into the Standard membership at the rate of $150. ISPOR is committed to the future of the HEOR profession and the New Professionals membership will be a valuable resource for those who want to keep themselves at the forefront of the field. If you have any questions, or interest, please contact [email protected].

Newsletter Quiz For a chance for your ISPOR Chapter to win $100, please answer the following questions (answers to the questions can be found by reading this newsletter) and submit to [email protected] by March, 24, 2017 Note: If more than one chapter answers ALL questions correctly, then they will be placed into a drawing to determine one final winner.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Quiz Questions: What was Rutgers first outreach event? Which speaker did UIC bring in from Takeda? What philanthropic event did UA participate in November? Who did UW have coffee and brunch with? Name one topic that Dr. Anuprita Patkar talked about during her session at VCU. What was the meeting that UMB attended in Washington, D.C.? What was the lecture that STJ had to commence fall 2016? Identify one competency that Mercer students gained from their 2nd Annual Research Skills Workshop. Name the lunch-and-learn that Calgary hosted. What two competitions did NIPER win this year?

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2016-2017 Newsletter Committee

VCU

UArizona

Mercer

Hrishikesh Kale

Mira Patel

Michelle Vu

UNTHSC

WVU

SJU

Mehdi Namil

Rashmi Goyat

Mona Nili

Special Thanks

Eman Biltaji, PhD, MS, BPharm ISPOR Student Network Chair, University of Utah Zeba M. Khan, RPh, PhD, ISPOR Board of Directors; ISPOR Student Network Advisor; Vice President, Celgene Corporation, Summit, NJ, USA Jason Cohen, Manager, Member Services (Students & New Professionals) Jennifer Casillas, Director, Member Services