June 15, 2015
Left to right: Yang, Nguyen, Patel, Liang, and Shroff

The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 20th Annual International Meeting was held from May 16 – 20, 2015 in Philadelphia, PA. The conference had a robust attendance of 3,700, an increase of 10% from 2014, and featured over 1,750 presentations.

Attendees from the University of Michigan included Yun Han PhD’15, Sumit Chabra PhD'16, Swan Lin, PharmD’16, Mark Yang, PharmD’17, Jerika Nguyen, PharmD’17, Amey Shroff, PharmD’17, Jenish Patel, PharmD’17, and Jennifer Liang, PharmD’17. From hundreds of presentations received by the conference review board, Han was chosen along with three others to give 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.”

The theme of the conference was “Integrating Big Data, Patient Data, and Cost-Effectiveness into Clinical Practice: Promise and Prospects”. Ideas related to the theme were explored throughout plenary sessions, research presentations, and discussion panels. Attendees included researchers, payers, decision and policy makers, academicians, clinicians, patients, and students. The diverse attendance allowed for a multi-disciplinary discussion of health care decision making. Patel and Shroff attended a short course entitled “Development of Conceptual Models,” regarding the use of models for reimbursement, pricing, and use of technologies within healthcare. The conference also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of ISPOR. Since its creation in 1995, the organization has grown from 240 members to over 9,500 members worldwide. ISPOR is recognized as the preeminent body for health economics and outcomes research.

The ISPOR Student Network serves to connect students with resources to further their academic development and assists the formation of connections between students and working professionals. The 2014- 2015 school year saw continual expansion of the Student Network worldwide with the addition of several new student chapters. Yang was elected Committee Chair of the Public Relations Committee for the Student Network. In his new position, Yang will be responsible for maintaining and increasing the online and social network presence of the Student Network in the upcoming academic year.

Founded in 2000 as the 5th ISPOR Student Chapter, the ISPOR/AMCP student organization within the College of Pharmacy aims to expose student pharmacists to non-traditional career opportunities. ISPOR/AMCP was represented at the conference by Lin, former President, Yang, President, and Patel, Treasurer. In addition to attending conference proceedings, highlights of the meeting included exploring the city of Philadelphia, visits to Magic Gardens, and Independence Hall. Attendees from U-M also networked with individuals from academia, industry, managed care, and contract research organizations (CROs). The U-M chapter repeated their Elite Eight performance in the Student Research Competition, a tournament style jeopardy competition involving terms related to health economics and outcomes research.

Visit our student organizations website for more information.