The Life Science Information Technology Global Institute (LSIT), which develops reference guidelines for IT systems in the life and health sciences, is announcing changes to its board of directors, effective immediately.

As of our board meeting of August 17, 2007, we are pleased to announce that Elaine Wuertz has taken the helm as chairperson of the LSIT board of directors.

She follows Geoff Odell who has completed his term as chairperson of LSIT and will remain on the board as chair emeritus. Mr. Odell is taking on a new role with Novartis as Vice President, Global Head of Development IT. We wish to congratulate Geoff as he embarks on this exciting role with Novartis (Basel, Switzerland). He will be based in New Jersey where much of the clinical development is managed.

Since LSIT's founding in 2004, both Geoff Odell and Elaine Wuertz have spearheaded major projects for the development of Good Informatics Practices (GIP). They have provided strategic leadership to LSIT and helped to establish operations and processes for building the organization as a whole. These include the Technology Advisory Board (TAB) and the Go-Team, which facilitates individual chapter team progress. Geoff and Elaine both engender a positive, upbeat, and supportive culture within LSIT. LSIT is known as an open, publicly accessible organization that reaches out to provide support and success to the Life Science and IT community and its volunteers. Education and networking opportunities have become essential attributes that LSIT has delivered, providing value by helping individuals to develop professionally through active collaboration within the industry.

LSIT Founder Howard Asher, explains that, "The Life Science Information Technology Global Institute was founded on the premise that alignment and structured methods of guidance will result in cost savings and a shorter time to market for candidate products that enhance healthcare and human life. What the International Conference for Harmonization did for developing Good Clinical Practices guidance we can do for Good Informatics Practices. This has never been done before and that's what makes it so exciting to work on. It is an initiative whose time has come."

Elaine Wuertz observes, "Our challenge at LSIT is benchmarking to a level of quality and trust that the GxPs have created. However, in working on the Information Technology side of the equation, there are many facets that broaden the scope and depth of what must be addressed within a Good Informatics Practices Guidance for Life Sciences, which has never been done before. To be comprehensive and complete in our body of knowledge and resources, we have regulatory agencies and standards organizations that affect IT such as FDA, IEEE, ISO, ITIL, HSS. We reference their standard or code. We work in collaboration with the important and relevant systems organizations who are already addressing critical needs through standards, such as : GAMP, CDISC, W3C, HL7, and PDA to name a few."

Steven Fouskarinis has been inducted into the LSIT board as Corporate Secretary. Steven has been actively involved with LSIT for over 18 months. He brings his talent for creative thinking and problem solving to the organization. Living by his mantra of "adaptive intelligence," he is demonstrating true leadership as we continue to grow a strong well-developed organization. Steven says, "It's all about the people; they are the users of GIP who are going to drive significant improvement and quality in IT, be they IT Directors or finance and accounting managers, that will help life sciences and healthcare organizations all over the world leverage what technologies can really do to get safe therapies to market faster."

Read the press release in its entirety here.

In December, LSIT will be hosting a seminar for approximately 100 guests that will take a closer look at applying GIP in Service Oriented IT (SO-IT) Environments and using the risk based approach. We have a variety of sponsorship opportunities for our members and associates.

Sponsorship helps build company value through peripheral media acknowledgement and attention, public relations, reinforcing the company name through synergistic activity, and in the end, increases company profits. The seminar provides participating sponsors with the benefits necessary to accomplish corporate goals and service objectives. This seminar provides a tremendous opportunity to brand your company and demonstrate leadership in Life Sciences and Healthcare IT. The seminar will generate new business opportunities through networking, while strengthening relationships within the life science community.

For more information about sponsorship levels and benefits, please contact Anette at anette@lsit.org.

Michael D. Christel's recent cover story in R&D Directions included insight provided by the LSIT Global Institute. From the article:

"As new and improved technologies arrive every day, executives might assume that the future is filled with promise and discovery that will push drug-development practices to unprecedented heights. The hard part, however, continues to be getting everyone to go along for the ride. If the pharmaceutical industry does not wholeheartedly embrace new innovations in information technology, experts warn that serious problems will hamper health care's economic and clinical models in the years to come."

Read the rest of the article here. (Subscription required.)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the British Library, along with eight other participating countries, has opened an online global gateway to science information from 15 national portals. The gateway, WorldWideScience.org, gives anyone interested in science the capability to search science portals not easily accessible through popular search technology such as that deployed by Google, Yahoo! and many other commercial search engines.

"Scientific research results are archived globally in a plethora of sources, many unknown and unreachable through usual search engines," Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, DOE Under Secretary for Science, said. "This international partnership will open up this vast reservoir of knowledge in a rapid and convenient manner, something that will add great value to our existing knowledge."

WorldWideScience.org gives science information consumers a single entry point for searching far-reaching science portals in parallel, with only one query, saving time and effort. As WorldWideScience.org grows, it will capitalize on existing technology to search vast collections of science information distributed across the globe, enabling much-needed access to smaller, less well-known sources of highly valuable science. Following the model of Science.gov, the U.S. interagency science portal that relies on content published by each participating U.S. agency, WorldWideScience.org will rely on scientific resources published by each participating nation.

The Society for Biomolecular Sciences has extended a discount to LSIT members and associates for their exciting 2-day symposium, Back to Pharmacology: Stem Cells & Primary Cells in Drug Discovery on November 7 & 8, 2007 at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel, in Anaheim, California. The event will feature top-tier presentations, an Exhibit Hall and Networking Reception. This meeting will provide an overview of the use of both primary cells and stem cells in high-throughput screening and the drug-discovery process.

Presentation topics will include:

• The influence of cell phenotype on pharmacology
• Practicalities of using primary and stem cells for high-throughput screening
• Comparing primary cells and engineered cells as tools for ADMET
• The use of stem cells for target validation and reconstituted multi-cellular in vitro systems

For more information, download the invitation or visit the SBS website.

I am pleased to announce that Quality Compliance Partners, Inc. has joined LSIT's growing membership list. QCP is a regulatory consulting firm that provides high quality compliance solutions to large and small Life Sciences Organizations. Quality Compliance Partners offers experienced industry professionals to bridge the gap between their clients' organizational goals and departmental resources.

Visit their website for more information.

Incidentally, you can catch QCP Sr. Quality Compliance Associate, Andrew Campbell, discuss ""Practical Considerations for Implementing Quality Systems" at next month's American Society for Quality meeting.