I have had some good training in my career, but if I had to choose my favourite training course it has to be the PSI Introduction to Industry Course (ITIT), which I attended back in 1994-5. As a CRO statistician, it was very rewarding to get a wider understanding of the drug development process and other disciplines. The other great thing was that I didn’t even ask to be enrolled. My boss at the time (Ray Harris) knew its value and enrolled as soon as I joined his group.

I was therefore delighted to be asked to present at the first day on this year’s course on Monday 13th November at Eli Lilly, and to meet the new intake. Back in 1994/5 the chair at the time, the late Mick Godly, gave an excellent after dinner speech at a formal dinner in his DJ. Yes, things change, but the course continues to flourish. It is larger now with 26 delegates this year and it’s much more inclusive. It is open to all our members and it was great to talk to many statisticians and programmers on the day. Delegates had also joined from mainland Europe (Barcelona, Basel and Berlin). Another exciting development is that the course will be run in Gothenburg, Sweden this academic year and in three mainland European sites in 2018/2019. We hope that this makes the course even more accessible to all our European members.  

I also had the pleasure of meeting the ITIT Committee (please see the picture above, left to right): Zelie Bailes (GSK), Sophie Dimonaco (Roche), Gareth Thomas (Envigo), Hoi-Shen Radcliffe (Amgen), Sophie Hodge (IQVIA), Anastasiia Raievska (Veramed), Ruth Lowe (PPD), Alex Godwood (MedImmune, chair ITIT). It is members like these, which make PSI so successful. Thank you also to Katie Thorn (Eli Lilly) who was the host organiser for this session.

I was also asked a good question after my presentation. One of our members wanted to know how Brexit will affect PSI. My simple answer is that it will not. PSI will continue to serve all its members across Europe. PSI will continue to be an international and outward looking organisation. The PSI Conference will continue to be rotated between mainland Europe and London, UK. We are also investing in video on demand to make our offerings more accessible. Training courses will also being repeated in mainland Europe.

Thank you to the ITIT Committee for inviting me. I had a lovely morning and it was a great honour to attend.

Nigel