2007 Fall Conference Materials Available

October 24, 2007

A record attendence of 131 including representatives from 22 world-class cancer centers converged on Madison in September for the Onsemble 2007 Fall Conference

Onsemble conferences provide important networking and educational opportunities for those concerned with excellence in clinical research operations. Starting as a consortium of cancer centers that use Oncore^® software to manage their clinical research operations, the community now boasts more than 415 members.

As the Onsemble community has grown, so have the conferences. The first conference, held in February 2006, was a two-day event focused largely on Oncore functionality. Since then, the conference has grown to three days to accommodate an expanded agenda.

On Wednesday morning, a special preconference workshop for clinical trials office directors and managers preceded the general session. At the request of past conference attendees, this session was added to provide clinical trials office leadership an opportunity to network and discuss issues with their peers. Attendees at the workshop worked to define metrics that can be used to measure the efficiency and performance of cancer clinical research operations.

Several distinguished guests spoke at the opening of the general session Wednesday afternoon. Topics included important national trends in cancer clinical operations, a panel discussion on clinical research compliance, updates on National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Health (NIH) policies and projects, and ways to improve operational efficiency.

Thursday morning was devoted to breakout sessions. With ample time for open discussion, these sessions focused on issues in specific operational areas: (1) Regulatory Management, (2) Financials Management, and (3) Data Management. A hands-on workshop also took place that morning. Representatives from various cancer centers gave presentations and led discussions about their successful strategies and persistent challenges in these areas.

The remainder of the conference covered specific topics related to clinical research operations. As is typical, the membership played an indispensible role by preparing the majority of the content for these sessions. There were 23 representatives from various cancer centers who gave presentations and led discussions on topics ranging from electronic training tools to managing translational research resources for universities.

This is the second time Onsemble has met in Madison. In July of 2006, the Fluno Center, located on the University of Wisconsin's campus, accommodated the event which had 100 attendees. The people at PercipEnz Technologies are proud of their hometown, so they enjoy inviting the Onsemble membership to Madison for one conference every year. Other Onsemble conferences have taken place in Clearwater, Florida and Lansdowne, Virginia.

Planning has already begun on the 2008 Spring Conference which will be held at the Rizzo Center in Chapel Hill, NC on February 20th through 22nd.

Access Conference Materials on Onsemble.net.