Date: Tuesday 4th October 2022 Time: 14:00-15:00 BST | 15:00-16:00 CEST Speaker: Brianna Gaskill (Novartis)
Who is this event intended for? Colleagues working in in-vivo research. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees have the opportunity to learn how knowledge can be gained from animal research.
Registration
You can now register for this event. Registration fees are as follows:
- Members of PSI = Free of charge
- Non-Members of PSI = Free of charge
To register for the session, please click here.
Overview
In recent years, the scientific community has finally become more generally aware of the current reproducibility and translatability crisis. Some of this awareness has come from the recent NIH initiative on “Enhancing rigor, transparency, and translatability in animal research” starting a paradigm shift around certain themes. This shift can be characterized at the micro level as a shift from asking “what have we controlled for in this model?” to asking “what have we chosen to ignore in this model, and at what cost?” At the macro level, it is a shift from viewing animals as tools (the furry test tube), to viewing them as patients in an equivalent human medical study, this includes providing for an animals welfare as well as experimental design and analysis techniques. Colleagues and I feel that we are witnessing the birth of a new discipline, which we have termed Therioepistemology, or the study of how knowledge is gained from animal research. In this talk, I’ll outline six questions that help critically evaluate animal-based biomedical research from a therioepistemological perspective. Ultimately, by formalizing therioepistemology as a discipline, we can begin to discuss best practices that will improve the reproducibility and translatability of animal-based research, with concomitant benefits in terms of human health, animal well-being, and scientific quality.
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Brianna Gaskill, PhD Novartis
Brianna received her BS from Kansas State University and PhD in Animal Behavior and Well-being from Purdue University. She completed a postdoctoral position at Charles River after graduation, then returned to Purdue as a faculty member in 2014 and was awarded tenure in 2020. Her research has focused on developing new animal welfare assessment methodologies, rodent well-being, and elucidating the scientific impact of welfare problems in animal based research. She recently started a new position at Novartis as their 3Rs scientist where she will work closely with disease area scientists to apply 3Rs strategies to improve animal welfare and drug discovery. Her research contributions have been acknowledged by receiving awards from the NC3R’s, the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, and the International Society for Applied Ethology.
Scientific Meetings
PSI Pre-Clinical SIG Webinar: Therioepistemology - Rethinking how we conduct animal-based experimentation
Date: Tuesday 4th October 2022 Time: 14:00-15:00 BST | 15:00-16:00 CEST Speaker: Brianna Gaskill (Novartis)
Who is this event intended for? Colleagues working in in-vivo research. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees have the opportunity to learn how knowledge can be gained from animal research.
Registration
You can now register for this event. Registration fees are as follows:
- Members of PSI = Free of charge
- Non-Members of PSI = Free of charge
To register for the session, please click here.
Overview
In recent years, the scientific community has finally become more generally aware of the current reproducibility and translatability crisis. Some of this awareness has come from the recent NIH initiative on “Enhancing rigor, transparency, and translatability in animal research” starting a paradigm shift around certain themes. This shift can be characterized at the micro level as a shift from asking “what have we controlled for in this model?” to asking “what have we chosen to ignore in this model, and at what cost?” At the macro level, it is a shift from viewing animals as tools (the furry test tube), to viewing them as patients in an equivalent human medical study, this includes providing for an animals welfare as well as experimental design and analysis techniques. Colleagues and I feel that we are witnessing the birth of a new discipline, which we have termed Therioepistemology, or the study of how knowledge is gained from animal research. In this talk, I’ll outline six questions that help critically evaluate animal-based biomedical research from a therioepistemological perspective. Ultimately, by formalizing therioepistemology as a discipline, we can begin to discuss best practices that will improve the reproducibility and translatability of animal-based research, with concomitant benefits in terms of human health, animal well-being, and scientific quality.
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Brianna Gaskill, PhD Novartis
Brianna received her BS from Kansas State University and PhD in Animal Behavior and Well-being from Purdue University. She completed a postdoctoral position at Charles River after graduation, then returned to Purdue as a faculty member in 2014 and was awarded tenure in 2020. Her research has focused on developing new animal welfare assessment methodologies, rodent well-being, and elucidating the scientific impact of welfare problems in animal based research. She recently started a new position at Novartis as their 3Rs scientist where she will work closely with disease area scientists to apply 3Rs strategies to improve animal welfare and drug discovery. Her research contributions have been acknowledged by receiving awards from the NC3R’s, the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, and the International Society for Applied Ethology.
Training Courses
PSI Pre-Clinical SIG Webinar: Therioepistemology - Rethinking how we conduct animal-based experimentation
Date: Tuesday 4th October 2022 Time: 14:00-15:00 BST | 15:00-16:00 CEST Speaker: Brianna Gaskill (Novartis)
Who is this event intended for? Colleagues working in in-vivo research. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees have the opportunity to learn how knowledge can be gained from animal research.
Registration
You can now register for this event. Registration fees are as follows:
- Members of PSI = Free of charge
- Non-Members of PSI = Free of charge
To register for the session, please click here.
Overview
In recent years, the scientific community has finally become more generally aware of the current reproducibility and translatability crisis. Some of this awareness has come from the recent NIH initiative on “Enhancing rigor, transparency, and translatability in animal research” starting a paradigm shift around certain themes. This shift can be characterized at the micro level as a shift from asking “what have we controlled for in this model?” to asking “what have we chosen to ignore in this model, and at what cost?” At the macro level, it is a shift from viewing animals as tools (the furry test tube), to viewing them as patients in an equivalent human medical study, this includes providing for an animals welfare as well as experimental design and analysis techniques. Colleagues and I feel that we are witnessing the birth of a new discipline, which we have termed Therioepistemology, or the study of how knowledge is gained from animal research. In this talk, I’ll outline six questions that help critically evaluate animal-based biomedical research from a therioepistemological perspective. Ultimately, by formalizing therioepistemology as a discipline, we can begin to discuss best practices that will improve the reproducibility and translatability of animal-based research, with concomitant benefits in terms of human health, animal well-being, and scientific quality.
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Brianna Gaskill, PhD Novartis
Brianna received her BS from Kansas State University and PhD in Animal Behavior and Well-being from Purdue University. She completed a postdoctoral position at Charles River after graduation, then returned to Purdue as a faculty member in 2014 and was awarded tenure in 2020. Her research has focused on developing new animal welfare assessment methodologies, rodent well-being, and elucidating the scientific impact of welfare problems in animal based research. She recently started a new position at Novartis as their 3Rs scientist where she will work closely with disease area scientists to apply 3Rs strategies to improve animal welfare and drug discovery. Her research contributions have been acknowledged by receiving awards from the NC3R’s, the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, and the International Society for Applied Ethology.
Journal Club
PSI Pre-Clinical SIG Webinar: Therioepistemology - Rethinking how we conduct animal-based experimentation
Date: Tuesday 4th October 2022 Time: 14:00-15:00 BST | 15:00-16:00 CEST Speaker: Brianna Gaskill (Novartis)
Who is this event intended for? Colleagues working in in-vivo research. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees have the opportunity to learn how knowledge can be gained from animal research.
Registration
You can now register for this event. Registration fees are as follows:
- Members of PSI = Free of charge
- Non-Members of PSI = Free of charge
To register for the session, please click here.
Overview
In recent years, the scientific community has finally become more generally aware of the current reproducibility and translatability crisis. Some of this awareness has come from the recent NIH initiative on “Enhancing rigor, transparency, and translatability in animal research” starting a paradigm shift around certain themes. This shift can be characterized at the micro level as a shift from asking “what have we controlled for in this model?” to asking “what have we chosen to ignore in this model, and at what cost?” At the macro level, it is a shift from viewing animals as tools (the furry test tube), to viewing them as patients in an equivalent human medical study, this includes providing for an animals welfare as well as experimental design and analysis techniques. Colleagues and I feel that we are witnessing the birth of a new discipline, which we have termed Therioepistemology, or the study of how knowledge is gained from animal research. In this talk, I’ll outline six questions that help critically evaluate animal-based biomedical research from a therioepistemological perspective. Ultimately, by formalizing therioepistemology as a discipline, we can begin to discuss best practices that will improve the reproducibility and translatability of animal-based research, with concomitant benefits in terms of human health, animal well-being, and scientific quality.
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Brianna Gaskill, PhD Novartis
Brianna received her BS from Kansas State University and PhD in Animal Behavior and Well-being from Purdue University. She completed a postdoctoral position at Charles River after graduation, then returned to Purdue as a faculty member in 2014 and was awarded tenure in 2020. Her research has focused on developing new animal welfare assessment methodologies, rodent well-being, and elucidating the scientific impact of welfare problems in animal based research. She recently started a new position at Novartis as their 3Rs scientist where she will work closely with disease area scientists to apply 3Rs strategies to improve animal welfare and drug discovery. Her research contributions have been acknowledged by receiving awards from the NC3R’s, the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, and the International Society for Applied Ethology.
Webinars
PSI Pre-Clinical SIG Webinar: Therioepistemology - Rethinking how we conduct animal-based experimentation
Date: Tuesday 4th October 2022 Time: 14:00-15:00 BST | 15:00-16:00 CEST Speaker: Brianna Gaskill (Novartis)
Who is this event intended for? Colleagues working in in-vivo research. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees have the opportunity to learn how knowledge can be gained from animal research.
Registration
You can now register for this event. Registration fees are as follows:
- Members of PSI = Free of charge
- Non-Members of PSI = Free of charge
To register for the session, please click here.
Overview
In recent years, the scientific community has finally become more generally aware of the current reproducibility and translatability crisis. Some of this awareness has come from the recent NIH initiative on “Enhancing rigor, transparency, and translatability in animal research” starting a paradigm shift around certain themes. This shift can be characterized at the micro level as a shift from asking “what have we controlled for in this model?” to asking “what have we chosen to ignore in this model, and at what cost?” At the macro level, it is a shift from viewing animals as tools (the furry test tube), to viewing them as patients in an equivalent human medical study, this includes providing for an animals welfare as well as experimental design and analysis techniques. Colleagues and I feel that we are witnessing the birth of a new discipline, which we have termed Therioepistemology, or the study of how knowledge is gained from animal research. In this talk, I’ll outline six questions that help critically evaluate animal-based biomedical research from a therioepistemological perspective. Ultimately, by formalizing therioepistemology as a discipline, we can begin to discuss best practices that will improve the reproducibility and translatability of animal-based research, with concomitant benefits in terms of human health, animal well-being, and scientific quality.
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Brianna Gaskill, PhD Novartis
Brianna received her BS from Kansas State University and PhD in Animal Behavior and Well-being from Purdue University. She completed a postdoctoral position at Charles River after graduation, then returned to Purdue as a faculty member in 2014 and was awarded tenure in 2020. Her research has focused on developing new animal welfare assessment methodologies, rodent well-being, and elucidating the scientific impact of welfare problems in animal based research. She recently started a new position at Novartis as their 3Rs scientist where she will work closely with disease area scientists to apply 3Rs strategies to improve animal welfare and drug discovery. Her research contributions have been acknowledged by receiving awards from the NC3R’s, the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, and the International Society for Applied Ethology.
Careers Meetings
PSI Pre-Clinical SIG Webinar: Therioepistemology - Rethinking how we conduct animal-based experimentation
Date: Tuesday 4th October 2022 Time: 14:00-15:00 BST | 15:00-16:00 CEST Speaker: Brianna Gaskill (Novartis)
Who is this event intended for? Colleagues working in in-vivo research. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees have the opportunity to learn how knowledge can be gained from animal research.
Registration
You can now register for this event. Registration fees are as follows:
- Members of PSI = Free of charge
- Non-Members of PSI = Free of charge
To register for the session, please click here.
Overview
In recent years, the scientific community has finally become more generally aware of the current reproducibility and translatability crisis. Some of this awareness has come from the recent NIH initiative on “Enhancing rigor, transparency, and translatability in animal research” starting a paradigm shift around certain themes. This shift can be characterized at the micro level as a shift from asking “what have we controlled for in this model?” to asking “what have we chosen to ignore in this model, and at what cost?” At the macro level, it is a shift from viewing animals as tools (the furry test tube), to viewing them as patients in an equivalent human medical study, this includes providing for an animals welfare as well as experimental design and analysis techniques. Colleagues and I feel that we are witnessing the birth of a new discipline, which we have termed Therioepistemology, or the study of how knowledge is gained from animal research. In this talk, I’ll outline six questions that help critically evaluate animal-based biomedical research from a therioepistemological perspective. Ultimately, by formalizing therioepistemology as a discipline, we can begin to discuss best practices that will improve the reproducibility and translatability of animal-based research, with concomitant benefits in terms of human health, animal well-being, and scientific quality.
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Brianna Gaskill, PhD Novartis
Brianna received her BS from Kansas State University and PhD in Animal Behavior and Well-being from Purdue University. She completed a postdoctoral position at Charles River after graduation, then returned to Purdue as a faculty member in 2014 and was awarded tenure in 2020. Her research has focused on developing new animal welfare assessment methodologies, rodent well-being, and elucidating the scientific impact of welfare problems in animal based research. She recently started a new position at Novartis as their 3Rs scientist where she will work closely with disease area scientists to apply 3Rs strategies to improve animal welfare and drug discovery. Her research contributions have been acknowledged by receiving awards from the NC3R’s, the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, and the International Society for Applied Ethology.
Upcoming Events
PSI Book Club: Change: How organisations achieve hard-to-imagine results in uncertain and volatile times
Organizations have to adapt to the transforming landscape of our industry to ensure they continue to be successful in the future. Many of us are feeling the impact of organizational change. By reading John P Kotter’s book we can understand about organizational change and learn how to thrive, rather than just survive, through change.
Change, by John P Kotter (and his team), is a summary of all that he has learned over his decades of research and leading change. His book describes why many current approaches to change are inadequate and explains why new solutions need to give people a voice and a role in a new, change-embracing organization.
Develop your understanding of organisational change and become empowered to be part of your organisation’s change, by reading Change by John P Kotter and joining the Sept-Dec 2025 book club. You will be invited to join facilitated discussions of the concepts and ideas and apply knowledge from the book in-between sessions.
Joint PSI/EFSPI Visualisation SIG 'Wonderful Wednesday' Webinars
Our monthly webinar explores examples of innovative data visualisations relevant to our day to day work. Each month a new dataset is provided from a clinical trial or other relevant example, and participants are invited to submit a graphic that communicates interesting and relevant characteristics of the data.
PSI Training Course: Propensity Scores: Practical Application in Non-randomised Studies
The course will introduce the topic of propensity scores and the use of external data. Covering the topics of matching and weighting as well as more advance topics of high dimension propensity scores, multi-valued treatments, double robustness and time-varying scenarios. There will be the opportunity to participate in some hands on practical exercises in R.
Our monthly webinar series allows attendees to gain practical knowledge and skills in open-source coding and tools, with a focus on applications in the pharmaceutical industry.
Making Estimands Work - Practical Approaches with Implementation in Data Standards
This event will discuss the impact of the estimand framework on data flow and data handling for analysis datasets (ADaM). What are the considerations to produce data sets suitable for estimation of estimands and traceability of the occurrence of intercurrent events. This webinar will include tips for best practice, based on the White paper Implementation of ICH E9(R1) Estimands Framework using Data Standards.
PSI/EFSPI Biomarker SIG Webinar: Statistical Methods for ctDNA Data
This webinar will describe what ctDNA is and what the key challenges are for analysing it. We will then summarise and review methods that were published over the last few years for analysing ctDNA data.
The morning will be dedicated to networking opportunities, helping attendees build connections with peers and professionals. In the afternoon, participants can attend a series of talks and workshops, including a career panel featuring speakers from both academia and industry, offering insights into various career paths. There will also be a statistical workshop, as well as the opportunity to learn about and debate some of the hot topics in the world of medical statistics. To wrap up the day, we’re exploring interest in an informal after-work networking event for those keen to continue the conversation.
Joint PSI/EFSPI, Phuse, ASA Safety Working Group Webinar Series: Overview of safety analysis and implementation process of safety surveillance in ongoing studies
The session will have three speakers and a discussant. This session will be the first in a series of webinars around safety in clinical trials. The series is co-organized by PSI, ASA-Biopharm safety working group and PHUSE.
This two-afternoon virtual course provides a practical introduction to adaptive clinical trials, focusing on the concepts, applications, and regulatory principles outlined in ICH E20 through real-world examples and case studies.
PSI Vaccines SIG Webinar: Statistical Immune Correlate Analysis of Hemagglutination Inhibition Titers for an mRNA-based Influenza Vaccine
This 1-hour webinar is designed for statisticians with an interest in vaccine development, to learn about the recent application of statistical immune correlate analysis in vaccine development. Specifically, an application of such analyses to evaluate hemagglutination inhibition titers for an influenza vaccine
PSI Careers - MEDMathS: Medicine Empowered by Data, Maths and Statistics
Date: Wednesday 4th November 2026
A careers talk about medical statistics and how it plays a crucial role in developing new medicines. Learn about the field of medical statistics and how it plays a crucial role in developing groundbreaking new medicines, vaccines and healthcare products.
Date: 18 November 2026
This is an excellent opportunity for students to find out more about the field of medical statistics, talk to people from different organisations and make contacts for the future. All students currently studying for a mathematics or statistics-related BSc, MSc or PhD are invited to attend, and we welcome interest from exhibitors too.
Aligning Estimation with the Clinical Question of Interest
This webinar will focus on aligning estimation to estimands. How do different strategies for handling intercurrent events and missing data handling influence the choice of estimation method, with illustration using a case study.
This networking event is aimed at statisticians that are new to the pharmaceutical industry who wish to meet colleagues from different companies and backgrounds.
PSI Careers Coaching Series: Peer Support Initiative
This 10-month peer support programme is aimed at professionals with five or more years of experience who are seeking structured development and connection with peers at a similar career stage. Through 5 bi-monthly topics, participants will engage in coach-led presentations, small-group discussions, and regular progress reviews focused on achieving tangible outcomes.
In this vital role you will generate evidence to meet Health Technology Assessment (HTA) requirements, while ensuring that the analyses performed meet required standards and are robust and valid.
Bristol Myers Squibb - Director, Statistical Methodology and Innovation
Lead the development of innovative statistical methods, provides expert consulting, oversees tools and software, and mentors team members while collaborating cross-functionally to address complex drug development challenges.
Phastar – Associate Director, Statistics – Real World Evidence (RWE)
As an Associate Director, Statistics (RWE) you will focus on supporting one of our key pharmaceutical clients within our FSP function. This will be a hands-on technical role, with oversight responsibilities and cross-functional exposure.
Phastar – Principal Statistician – Real World Evidence (RWE)
We are seeking an experienced Statistician to join our FSP team to support one of our fantastic and well-known global pharmaceutical clients, at Principal level.
We are seeking an experienced Statistician to join our FSP team to support one of our fantastic and well-known global pharmaceutical clients, at either Senior or Principal levels.
This position is deal for a statistician who values ownership, collaboration, and using data to enable confident development decisions and to support regulatory submissions.
Brianna Gaskill, PhD