ISPOR and the JSPH

For more than a decade and a half, our team from the Jefferson School of Population Health (and its predecessor department and office) has been very well represented at the annual meeting of the International Association of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research or ISPOR!!! ISPOR is the global leader in research on what works and what doesn't and all of the economic implications for pharmaceutical agents world wide. The annual meeting now draws more than 2,300 persons from all over the globe and it spans nearly a week, counting the pre-courses and related activities. Today, I think ISPOR is more important than ever as health reform and Comparative Effectiveness Research have pushed this agenda to the front page. The cost of pharma agents continues to rise, particularly in the oncology arena. We cannot continue to spend money on products without better proof of their comparative effectiveness and possible role in evidence based care moving forward. ISPOR uniquely fills this research void. This year, one of our fellows, Dr. Kellie Dudash, won acclaim for her podium presentation and came away with the prize for best new investigator---a real coup for her, and for our entire research team too. I am particularly proud of Kellie, Dr. Joe Couto and of course, Neil Goldfarb, our long time Associate Dean for Research. This is further confirmation for me that the JSPH is a national leader in interpreting the outcomes of the ACA and leads the way from an academic perspective in doing research in this arena. Our research supports the notion, covered in this blog many times, that the future means -- NO OUTCOME, NO INCOME!! DAVID NASH