Lawrenceville, NJ, USA—April 23, 2019—ISPOR—the professional society for health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), announced plenary sessions and speakers for its ISPOR 2019 annual, international conference. The conference will be held May 18-22, 2019 in New Orleans, LA, USA and will focus on the theme, “Rapid. Disruptive. Innovative: A New Era in HEOR.” Program co-chairs for ISPOR 2019 include Jalpa Doshi, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Brian O’Rourke, PharmD, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, Ottawa, ON, Canada; and Rosanna Tarricone, PhD, MSc, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.

The ISPOR 2019 keynote will be delivered by Daniel Kraft, MD, faculty chair for medicine, Singularity University, founder and chair, Exponential Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. Dr Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard trained physician-scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and innovator. In his keynote, Dr Kraft will explore the impact of disruptive medical therapies on medicine today and in the future. The keynote will set the ground for the first plenary session that will follow and Dr Kraft will also serve as a panelist for the plenary.

The first plenary session, “The Dawn of Disruption in the Health Sector: Will Innovative Technologies Require Innovative Ways of Thinking?,” is scheduled for Monday, May 20, 2019. This plenary will examine the impact, challenges, and opportunities of the recent renaissance of groundbreaking, new, curative health technologies. The speakers will focus on the perspectives of a range of healthcare stakeholders, including payers, manufacturers, and patients. Speakers will include:

• Moderator: Clifford Goodman, PhD, senior vice president, The Lewin Group, Falls Church, VA, USA
• Timothy Caulfield, LLM, Canada research chair, professor, and research director, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
• Fleur Chandler, Patient Advisory Board, Duchenne, Twickenham, England, UK
• Rebekah E. Gee, MD, MPH, secretary, Louisiana Department of Health, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
• Ron Philip, chief commercial officer, Spark Therapeutics, Inc, Philadelphia, PA, USA

The second plenary session, “Medical Device Innovation and Regulation: Turbocharged for Success?,” is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, 2019. This plenary will explore how global healthcare systems can navigate the recent controversies related to innovation, safety, and regulation of medical devices. Several additional speakers will be finalized soon. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Laurie Burke, MPH, founder, LORA Group, LLC, Royal Oak, MD, USA
• M. Suzanne Schrandt, JD, director, Arthritis Foundation, Atlanta, GA, USA
• Harindra Wijeysundera, MD, PhD, vice president, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, Ottawa, ON, Canada

The third and final plenary session, “Is Affordability Driving a Need to Revolutionize Drug Pricing?,” will be held Wednesday, May 22, 2019. This plenary will consider the timely issue of drug pricing as affordability of pharmaceuticals has become a global issue. The explosion of high cost, disruptive, and innovative drugs has offered breakthroughs in the treatment or cure of a number of diseases; however, payers are facing a crisis of affordability. Speakers include:

• Moderator: Colleen M. Flood, director, University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy, and Ethics, Ottawa, ON, Canada
• Muna Bhanji, RPh, senior vice president, Global Market Access, Merck, Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Meindert Boysen, PharmD, MSc, director, Centre for Health Technology Evaluation, NICE, Manchester, England, UK
• John M. O’Brien, PharmD, MPH, senior advisor to the secretary for drug pricing reform, US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC, USA
• Mark Trusheim, MS, strategic director, NEWDIGS and Visiting Scientist MIT, Boston, MA, USA

In addition to these plenary sessions, ISPOR 2019 presents a wide variety of breakout sessions, including spotlight sessions, issue panels, workshops, educational symposia, podium presentations, and poster presentations. The conference also features the Society’s Essential HEOR Education curriculum of half- and full-day short courses on May 18-19, 2019. The ISPOR Short Course Program offers more than 30 HEOR course topics, including 4 new short courses.

ISPOR is recognized globally as the leading professional society for health economics and outcomes research and its role in improving healthcare decisions. ISPOR 2019 expects to draw more than 4000 healthcare stakeholders with an interest in HEOR, including policy makers, global thought leaders, researchers and academicians, public and private payers, decision makers, and patient representatives.

Additional information on the conference can be found at:

Conference Information | Program | Registration | Short Course Program | Exhibits & Sponsorships | Press

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ABOUT ISPOR

ISPOR, the professional society for health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), is an international, multistakeholder, nonprofit dedicated to advancing HEOR excellence to improve decision making for health globally. The Society is the leading source for scientific conferences, peer-reviewed and MEDLINE^®-indexed publications, good practices guidance, education, collaboration, and tools/resources in the field.
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