We look forward to welcoming you to the ISPE 2024 Annual Meeting in Berlin! The event will take place from 24 to 28 August at the Estrel Conference Center. The conference center is located on the Berlin Ring—a 37-km long railway line in the approximate shape of a circle, with trains running clockwise and counter-clockwise. I hope you will also enjoy the venue´s waterfront area across the street. Our Local Host Committee has prepared a Visitor´s Guide with information on the city and its neighborhoods, public transport, restaurants, museums, tipping suggestions, and other details.
As in previous years, we will have a conference app. The app allows attendees to select sessions from the conference agenda to create a personalized schedule containing information on session speakers and locations. We will also use the app´s messaging feature to communicate about lost-and-found items, overflow rooms, and other general messages. Details on how to download the app will be emailed to conference registrants, and the app will be accessible close to the conference start date.
Each year, we put more effort into sustainability. This year’s sustainability efforts include not providing paper pads, pens, or conference bags and reducing the number of physical program books printed. During registration, the physical program book will be offered as a separate purchase (note that each program book for the Halifax meeting weighed 500 g). We also encourage attendees to use Berlin´s extensive public transportation network instead of taxis; our Visitor’s Guide provides information on how to get from the airport to the Estrel Conference Center.
There will be ample opportunity for socializing. The welcome reception will take place the evening of 25 August, after the two days of preconference courses. This will be a relaxed event with light food to catch up with everyone; academic programs will also be showcasing their activities at the reception. The student social event is one of the meeting’s most important networking opportunities. This year’s student social event will take place on 26 August, the first night of the conference, at ART Stalker—a well-known venue for cultural events. The conference social event will take place on 27 August—the final night of the conference—at Spindler & Klatt. This venue overlooks the Spree River and is just across from the iconic East Side Gallery—the world’s longest open-air mural gallery, situated on the eastern side of the former Berlin Wall. Additionally, some special interest groups (SIGs) and regional interest groups (RIGs) will meet socially after conference hours.
As always, scientific activities will include two days of preconference courses (25 courses that are offered yearly and two one-time advanced methods courses) and three conference days with plenary sessions, symposia, workshops, oral sessions, and lightning presentation sessions (groups of three-minute oral presentations) as well as poster sessions and SIGs’ poster spotlight sessions. SIGs, RIGs, committees, and councils will also meet during the conference. For this year’s conference, we are able to present up to seven sessions simultaneously—an increase from five or six in previous years. The plenary sessions will be on artificial intelligence, technology, and pharmacoepidemiology (day one); research using real-world data when clinical trials are not feasible, with lessons learned from perinatal pharmacoepidemiology (day two); and a debate on whether confounding control should be based on subject-matter knowledge or empirically dictated by data (day three). Symposia and workshops will cover the broad interests of our society. This year, we have seen strong interest in target trial emulation, artificial intelligence, real-world data and evidence, and external control arms. The program will also include tracks of oral presentations on drug utilization, cardiovascular disease and risk factors, cancer, geriatric pharmacoepidemiology, pregnancy and pediatrics, and vaccines, among others. Additionally, we will have an oral session on health equity.
I am very thankful to the Scientific Program Committee, ISPE President, ISPE Executive Committee, Kellen, the Local Host Committee, the Education Committee, the Sustainability Committee, abstract authors and reviewers, exhibitors, sponsors, and all the groups and individuals participating in the exciting task of putting together the 2024 ISPE Annual Meeting.
See you in Berlin!
Safe travels.
