Chair: Vangelis Manolopoulos
Strategic Objectives of Education and Course Division
1. To organise educational events, such as summer or winter schools and/or short Advanced Courses
2. To organise educational sessions in collaboration with other European organisations.
3. To organise training activities in collaboration with and tailored to the needs of industry
4. To create a committee focusing on developing teaching programs for medical and pharmaceutical schools
5. To prepare educational materials for the website
ESPT Educational Activities have the following objectives
1. To provide students and health professionals with comprehensive training and updated knowledge in the multidisciplinary field of pharmacogenomics and personalised therapy.
2. To provide information on an integrated approach incorporating all facets of genetics/genomics (pharmacogenomics, nutrigenomics, toxicogenomics, immunogenomics, epigenomics)
3. To understand and elaborate the importance of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) as a long-standing and largely neglected major medical problem
4. To understand the importance of pharmacogenetic testing in routine medical practice for better and safe treatment
5. To understand importance of biostatistics and bioinformatics for pharmacogenomics and theranostics
6. To understand the convergence between systems biology and pharmacogenomics
7. To understand the position of pharmacogenomics in Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)
8. To discuss ethical issues in obtaining, using, and distributing genetic information with an emphasis on specific ethical issues related to pharmacogenomics
9. To encourage interaction between specialists in the various aspects of pharmacogenomics and personalised medicine
10. To bridge the gap between available knowledge generated through basic and clinical research and clinical application
The target audience of educational activities includes physicians; pharmacists; biologists; scientists and research staff investigators; graduate students (medical, pharmacy, science, etc); other health care professionals (e.g. nurses, nutritionists); pharmaceutical industry scientists, sales personel, and managers; hospital and insurance company administrators and economists; key decision makers (e.g. politicians, government administrators in health care)
The subjects to be covered in educational activities of ESPT will be tailored according to the needs of the audience. Indicatively, the topics for a comprehensive general educational meeting lasting 2-4 days should include the following:
1. Basics of molecular genetics
2. Drug metabolism
3. Drug-drug interactions
4. Drug safety and pharmacovigilance
5. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) as a tool in theranostics
6. Pharmacogenetic applications in specific clinical areas, such as oncology, immunology, cardiology, asthma, diabetes and psychiatry
7. Interpretation of Pharmacogenetic testing results by personalised reports
8. Psychological and social aspects of pharmacogenomics and theranostics
9. Pharmacoecomics
10. Nutrigenomics and its practical applications
11. Epigenomics and pharmacoepigenomics
12. Interaction of genetics and environmental factors in development and treatment of disease
13. Evidence-Based Medicine
14. Molecular biology techniques and high-throughput technologies
15. Bioinformatics and biostatistics
16. Ethical aspects of genomics
17. Patient rights, application of medical privacy and confidentiality for genetics
Chair: Ron van Schaik
Members: Adrian LLerena
Strategic Objectives
- Create a Pharmacogenetic laboratory network that will enable fast knowledge transfer and rapid implementation of new pharmacogenetic tests, their use and limitations, and aiming on harmonization in testing and reporting
- Educate healthcare professionals throughout Europe about current status and upcoming developments in pharmacogenetics
- Be a partner for industry for advice and implementation of pharmacogenetic based accompanying diagnostics
- Be a partner for advisory and regulatory bodies for the clinical use of pharmacogenetics tests, enabling access to a large group of pharmacogenetic experts and clinical expertise and experiences
- Create a Pharmacogenetic laboratory network that will enable fast knowledge transfer and rapid implementation of new pharmacogenetic tests, their use and limitations, and aiming on harmonization in testing and reporting
Chair: to be defined
Strategic Objectives of Scientific Research Division:
Bring together basic and translational research in meetings and symposia
Organisation
The Scientific Research Division and Clinical Implementation Division address both scientific research as well as clinical implementation, with the idea that the barrier between these two fields should be low. Both divisions will focus on promoting and facilitating clinical implementation of valuable new pharmacogenetic/genomic biomarkers. For this, specific working groups will be formed.
AIM
Enhance research on, and facilitate clinical implementation of personalized medicine for patient care
ESPT believes that a major problem for clinical implementation of personalized medicine, particularly pharmacogenetics/genomics, is that the field is not sufficiently organized at this moment. Clinicians and patients should be able to benefit from the knowledge we have accumulated today for guiding individual drug therapy. Therefore, ESPT has a strong focus translation. We aim to promote this process by offering a powerful organization that brings together experts in the field.
Actions of the division
- Create studies in pharmacogenomic
- Identify with this working group barriers for clinical implementation and suggest solutions to overcome these
- Create possibilities for combined research projects
Chair: Csilla Sipeky
Members: Ron van Schaik, Adrian Llerena, Marina Festinese
Strategic Objectives
Align Communication Strategy and Process with ESPT Strategy, Mission and Vision, defined for the same period
Enhance visibility and general representation of ESPT
Ensure effective communication to ESPT members, stakeholders and general public
Create and implement the procedures of ESPT Communication
Define the tools, personal and resources of ESPT Communication
Create and organise ESPT website and maintain it with up to date information
Provide input for communication materials of ESPT actions and newsletter
Ensure social media activity of the society on LinkedIn, Facebook