Join the IPA Evolution
January 9, 2020
by [Carolyn Cross, Treasurer IPA Board of Directors]
Carolyn Cross, Treasurer IPA Board of Directors
Since 2013, the IPA Board and Executive started to reimagine a new IPA and this new vision for IPA is taking shape under the direction of new President Luis Arnaut. With excellent groundwork provided by past- President Tayyaba Hasan, the IPA has become a very different organization that it was 30 years ago when it was first founded. The initial biennial scientific and research exchange focus has been replaced with a much broader mandate to champion PDT globally.
Under Tayyaba Hasan’s leadership, the IPA platform, membership and processes were reconstituted, and the Board reinvigorated with new directors from different regions and ages. Luis Arnaut has quickly built on this momentum and has created several Committees to assist the Board with strengthening the IPA community and the PDT brand. The goal is to see PDT in routine use around the world.
To achieve this lofty ambition, the IPA community needs to pull together into one collaborative and supportive organization. We need to improve the lines of communication between our active pods of PDT and bring new members and resources to build up both IPA and PDT.
As in the past, the IPA and IPA World Congresses will be the opportunity to showcase, share and learn from excellent PDT basic science and clinical research undertaken around the world. However, IPA must not stop there. IPA must play an active role to promote this good research and the talented researchers, endorse PDT through the numerous challenges and gatekeepers to ensure translation of this collective work into global PDT adoption. We need to learn from each region’s successes and failures to be more productive with the efforts currently expended. We need to be more focused and strategic with clinical studies, favoring large collaborations over endless underpowered studies that are ineffective at advancing PDT adoption. We need to blend the experience and regulatory know-how of the developed world with the large and inexpensive patient recruitment opportunities of the developing nations. We will only be able to achieve this by being a stronger, larger and more interconnected PDT community.
Over the coming year, we will be actively looking to locate all the PDT players and bring them into the IPA platform. We are looking to collect information and stay informed about global PDT activities and know who is in the “PDT Ecosystem”. Our goal is to double our membership by the Moscow World Congress in 2021. Please help us identify PDT scientists, researchers, industry, general PDT enthusiasts that are not currently members and encourage them to join the IPA as members or at least follow us on our social media outlets. Additionally, we are actively looking for our members to volunteer on the number of new Committees that have been formed. Everyone is welcome and all support is appreciated. Please click on this link to sign up.
The next objective for the IPA is to engage as many of the PDT stakeholders in the PDT Ecosystem as we can. By doing this, the IPA will be able to do more to support and promote global PDT which in turn will add more value to its members. Increasing the membership as well as increasing engagement and connectivity of this membership can only strengthen and improve PDT’s long-term outlook.
Your new Board is working hard to continue to build on the momentum of the fabulous Boston World Congress and is keen to have new members join in and help execute on our ambitious vision. We want to hear from you. Please help us add to the mailing list and the membership. Stay engaged, share your own stories, and follow us as we leverage the extraordinary work of the past and realize on the PDT opportunities of the future.
About the Author: Carolyn Cross, Treasurer IPA Board of Directors, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Ondine Biomedical Inc.
Image courtesy of Carolyn Cross
Part of the IPA Newsletter Issue 5: Launching our New Format