ISMPP West 2019
Changing Tides and Technology in Scientific Communications 
November 14-15, 2019 * Kimpton Solamar Hotel * San Diego, CA


Registration closing OCTOBER 18!

#ISMPPWest19
Why West
Schedule of Events
Roundtable Topics
Meeting Fees/Registration
Venue/Hotel
Exhibits/Sponsorship Opportunities
2019 Exhibits and Sponsors
Cancellation Policy
2018 ISMPP West Meeting

Why West?

The second ISMPP West Meeting will offer an insightful program that delves into the varied types of companies involved in publications, particularly those with a presence on the West Coast.

The 1½-day meeting will explore publication challenges at companies that range from large to small, start-up to established, well-funded to tightly funded, and drug to device.

These companies may encounter different needs and solutions to address the same problem, and they may even face different problems. Plan to attend and gain some valuable learning experiences!

Sponsorship Opportunities available! Hurry; only a handful remain! 

Schedule of Events:

 = Approved for CMPP credit

Thursday, November 14 - Workshops: Choose from three workshops (1:00 - 4:30 PM):

Introductory Publication Planning: Building a Robust Publication Plan: New Challenges, Unique Approaches and Recent Developments 

  • A strategic publication plan takes into consideration many factors, and medical publication professionals often lead the development of a well-thought out plan.  The planning process results in a detailed roadmap that the product teams follow to best communicate clinical and other relevant data in a timely fashion to the appropriate audiences.  Despite careful and detailed planning, unexpected challenges can arise in both small and large companies.  In these cases, the medical publication professional may need to adopt unique approaches to meet their publication goals.  During the workshop, we will work together to gain awareness of new trends and developments in scientific communications and discuss new tools and insights into publication planning. 

Digital Advances and Publication Planning: Current Practices and Future Directions 

  • In a data-rich medical environment, digital advances in publication planning are helping to enhance the educational value, stakeholder relevance, and reach of medical publications. Participants will gain insights into the need for and new trends associated with digitally enhanced content and social media platforms. They will also review the latest innovations from prominent medical publishers and the obstacles and practical challenges in adopting new media as well as methods to overcome them.

  • Case Studies: Attendees will be encouraged to share their own work experiences with integrating enhanced content and social media into their publication plans and processes.

Ethics in Publications Practice: Authorship, Transparency, Consequences, and Beyond 

  • What does ethics mean to you? The important issues of authorship, data transparency, compliance, open access and other topics become especially challenging in instances where current publication guidelines (ICMJE, GPP3, etc.) do not provide specific guidance and can be interpreted in different ways. This interactive workshop will enable participants to explore these and related issues that sometimes fall into gray areas in depth, going beyond the letter of the guidelines, and employing real-world case studies to examine ethics, potential solutions, consequences, and best practices. Whether from large pharma with established publication SOPs, or small start-ups with no publication’s infrastructure, or publishers or academics, participants will be encouraged to share their own cases and experiences for exploration by the entire group.

  • Previous enrollees appreciated the “thought-provoking” discussions and the appropriateness of examples for professionals of different experience levels.

Friday, November 15 - Interactive Program Sessions with Enlightening Discussions

8:00 - 9:00 AM: Breakfast

9:00 - 9:15 AM: Opening Remarks

9:15 - 10:00 AM: Session 1: Developing Publications for the Ultimate End User - The Patient 

  • Patients should have the option of accessing peer-reviewed medical publications without the interpretation or opinions found in popular journalism or social media. As medical communication and publication professionals, we must help ensure accurate and accessible research is available to patients.  This session will explore how to incorporate plain language summaries (PLS) into our publication planning, practical considerations for developing PLS, dissemination, and accessibility.  Issues surrounding barriers, including timing, authorship, cost, journals, and perceptions of duplicate publication/promotional materials will be discussed.
10:10 - 10:50 AM: Keynote: The West Coast Life Sciences Innovation Ecosystem, Sara Radcliffe, Bayamet

In her keynote address, Sara will present:

  • An overview of the product development ecosystem for drugs, devices, and diagnostics in the western region, including major trends in approvals, jobs, investment, and intellectual property

  • Recent developments in digital health

  • A "toolkit" to help publication professionals have an impact on major national public debates regarding healthcare

10:50 - 11:20 AM: Break and Visit Exhibitors

11:20 AM - 12:20 PM: Session 2- Potential Impact of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Research and Medical Publications 

    • Blockchain: Emerging new technologies such as blockchain have the potential to revolutionize scientific publications. There are a number of different companies exploring the potential to leverage blockchain on new publishing platforms and in support of scholarly publishing workflows.  This session will provide the basic component of what blockchain is and how it applies to the publication industry.  We will review current approaches that attempt to address issues related to enhancing transparency in order to detect unethical publishing, incentivizing peer-review, and use of smart contracts to make the publication workflow more efficient.  Finally, we will discuss both the challenges and opportunities of this emerging technology and how it could impact the scientific publication industry now and in the future. 

    • Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence technologies are increasingly being explored for their utility in medical publications. These applications range from simulating eye-tracking and visual attention to improve the design of various publication formats, applying natural language processing techniques to enhance literature analyses, and automating aspects of manuscript development.  This session will demystify the differences between narrow and general AI, the different and current applications such as document classification and topic modeling and how those can be applied in publications.  What are the opportunities or challenges in your organization that may be addressed by AI? 

12:20 - 1:20 PM - Lunch and Visit Exhibitors 

1:20 - 1:30 PM - News You Can Use

1:30 - 3:05 PM - New for 2019! 12 Roundtable Session Topics:

  1. Social Media as a Tool for Publications 

  2. Scientific Platforms: Challenges

  3. Best Practices Interacting with Authors 

  4. Lay Summaries for Biomedical Journals 

  5. Metrics for Publication Impact 

  6. Career Development in Scientific Communications/Publications

  7. Data-sharing as a Journal Requirement for Publication

  8. Publication Steering Committees

  9. Engaging HCPs: The Role of Medical Affairs 

  10. Hybrid Positions in Publications: Writing and Planning

  11. Open Access and Medical Publications 

  12. Communicating RWE from Prespecified Studies 

3:35 - 4:30 PM: Session 3 - Medical Affairs and Publication Team Coordination to Maximize Publication Use at the Point of Scientific Exchange 
  • Effective use of publications and their derivatives is paramount at the point of scientific exchange.  This session will address how published material is used in broader communications, and will include approaches to working with medical affairs teams, aligning strategy, and communication planning.  We will discuss how the publications team can work with the medical affairs team to better facilitate data dissemination;  how publications are used to aid medical affairs teams with their communications (eg MSL slide kits, detail aids, standard response letters for Medical Information, medical booth activities and materials, and training activities); and how you can enhance your teamwork for better data dissemination.  We’ll provide models and perspectives to consider on creating the plan, the “pull-through”, and use of publications at the point of scientific exchange. 

4:30 - 4:50 PM: ISMPP/CMPP Update

4:50 - 5:00 PM: Closing Remarks

5:00 - 7:00 PM: Networking Reception

Meeting Fees:

ISMPP West Meeting Registration:  *$550
Choice of three workshops: *$295 each

* Non-ISMPP members: Please note there is a $195 additional administrative fee to register, which includes a complimentary year of membership to ISMPP if you opt-in.


2019 Venue & Hotel Reservations:

Kimpton Solamar Hotel
435 6th Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone:  (619) 819-9500
Room reservation link

Room rates: $209++ per night (plus tax – currently 12.695%, and $10 amenity fee per night)

IMPORTANT: Hotel booking advisory! If you receive a phone call or email from any third-party vendor looking to assist with your hotel reservations, beware, this is a scam. Please alert [email protected] and do not provide any credit card information.

Travel Information:

From the east and San Diego Intl. Lindbergh Field (SAN) (Nearest Airport):

Hotel Solamar is located just three miles from the San Diego International Airport (approximately 14 minute drive).
Take the airport exit towards the car rental return.
Turn left onto North Harbor Drive.
Turn left onto Broadway.
Turn right onto 6th Avenue.
Kimpton Solamar Hotel is located at 435 - 6th Avenue at the corner of J Street.

ISMPP has arranged for discounts up to 5% on the following airline(s):

Delta Airlines - Enter departure/arrival information. Click on “Advanced Search”. Enter NY2N7 in the Meeting Code box. 

American Airlines - Enter departure/arrival information and traveler information. In the Promotion Code box, enter 54N9AY. 

Exhibitor & Sponsor Opportunities:

Exhibit Opportunities - 6 ft. Tabletop Exhibit - $3,000/each  **SOLD OUT!**

Sponsorship Opportunities:

  • Networking Reception: $5,000 - only 1 available!
    Your logo will appear on signage and branded cocktail napkins.
  • Education Grants:  $2,500
    Your logo will appear in both print materials and the ISMPP website.

Meeting Materials: Sponsor the lanyards, pens and bags!  Contact Sue Marek at [email protected] for details or with any questions.

Thank You Exhibitors & Sponsors of the ISMPP West Meeting:

Cancellation Policy:

4 or more weeks prior to event:

You will receive a full refund, minus 10% of the balance for processing fees, or you may substitute another ISMPP member to attend in your place. You may also request a voucher for the full registration fee to be used towards a future ISMPP event within the following twelve-month period.

2 to 4 weeks prior to the event: 

You will receive a refund of 30% of the registration fees or you may substitute another ISMPP member to attend in your place. You may also request a voucher for the full registration fee to be used towards a future ISMPP event within the following twelve-month period.

Less than 2 weeks prior to the event: 

You may substitute another ISMPP member to attend in your place.

2018 ISMPP West Meeting

ISMPP expresses our great appreciation to the faculty, attendees, exhibitors and sponsors of our first ISMPP West meeting. We welcomed over 120 participants, an excellent turnout for the Society's first-ever educational meeting on the West Coast!

View the 2018 ISMPP West Meeting agenda. 

Members, go to the ISMPP West Meeting Archive to view presentations.