September Boston QSP: The Blog
Attendees arrived timely at the Havana room even though the event was scheduled to start at 5 pm, a bit earlier than usual. And why not, no one wants to miss out an opportunity to meet with and hear from none other than Dr. Mats Karlsson.
Dr. Karlsson is a Professor of Pharmacometrics, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Sweden. He was our distinguished speaker for the event. His research focuses on pharmacometric models. He has published >300 peer-reviewed articles and supervised >60 PhD-students to their degree. He has received numerous awards and honors from ACCP, ACOP, ASCPT, EUFEPS, ISoP, PKUK, the Swedish Government, Uppsala University, and the Royal Society of Sciences.
The title of his presentation was “The full random effects model for covariate modeling – theory and practice.”
In the Full Random Effects Model (FREM) for covariate modeling, relations between all covariates of interest and all parameters of interest are estimated simultaneously. This is achieved by treating covariates as observations with a typical value and variability described by random effects. The full covariance matrix of random effects for parameters and covariates is then estimated and the covariances between parameters and covariates provide information about the relation between a covariate and a parameter. This contrasts to standard covariate models, which, regardless of model building method, estimate covariate-parameter relations as fixed effects.
Dr. Karlsson talked about many advantages and challenges of FREM. He also discussed the potential for FREM to facilitate covariate modeling and associated decisions. Lively Q&A session followed the presentation. The link to his slides is provided here.
After the Q&A, all of the attendees were directed to Venture café a few steps down the hallway from Havana room. Unfortunately, Dr. Karlsson was unable to join us for the reception as he had to rush to the airport to catch the flight back to Sweden. Nevertheless, the Venture café was packed and buzzing with interactions of the attendees during the reception over drinks and food.
This event was organized by Boston QSP and sponsored by Amgen. If you missed it, no need to worry! We are finalizing yet another exciting event with a distinguished speaker. Our next event is scheduled for November 15th sponsored by Pfizer. RSVP is free but required. RSVP here today to secure your seat.
Our photographer, Mike, captured some moments from the event. Enjoy the slideshow below!
