Student Council

The ISPE Student Council aims to keep its members connected throughout the year using Facebook and Linked-In. All important announcements can be accessed via these groups, and especially Linked-In is a great resource for sharing research interests and finding professional connections. Please join us!

Mission

Students of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (SISPE) is an international network for students interested in or studying pharmacoepidemiology. SISPE is organized by student members of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE).

The ISPE Student Council has set the following goals and objectives:

1. To provide a forum for the discussion of issues of specific concern to pharmacoepidemiology students across the world.
2. To facilitate the exchange of information concerning research, grants, job openings, and other information of interest.
3. To improve ISPE students' social and professional networks and create an engaged and lively student community in pharmacoepidemiology.
4. To represent the interests and concerns of ISPE student members before the Board of Directors.
5. To organize student activities at ISPE meetings and throughout the year, to optimize benefits for students, and to enhance student participation.

These objectives are to be achieved by organizing the student night out at ISPE-sponsored meetings, the student skills workshop held at the annual meetings, the online journal clubs/seminars, regular communication with ISPE student members, and by conducting other activities consistent with these aims.

Eligibility and Benefits

Eligibility

As a student member of ISPE, you are automatically a member of SISPE.

Benefits

In addition to all the benefits afforded to regular ISPE members, the benefits of SISPE membership include:

1. Receiving important communications
   As a member of SISPE, you are automatically added to the ISPE student listserv and sent an invitation to join the ISPE student group on Facebook (if you are a student member and have not yet received a Facebook invitation, please contact the Student Council. Through these two media, we inform the student body of student events and activities, employment opportunities, and provide students with a forum to discuss methodological issues or hot topics in pharmacoepidemiology.
2. The opportunity to participate in online journal clubs/seminars
   The ISPE Student Council hosts online seminars monthly. Members of SISPE are invited to join the journal club/seminar where students have the opportunity to hear and ask questions of leaders in the field of pharmacoepidemiology on methodological issues and hot topics in the field.
3. An invitation to all student activities held at the ISPE-sponsored meetings
   The ISPE Student Council organizes a number of student activities at ISPE-sponsored meetings such as student the student skills workshop, the student council meetings, and ISPE student socials, to name a few. In the past, the student skills workshop has featured a panel of experts in pharmacoepidemiology talking to students on a wide range of topics from detailing their own personal career paths to offering advice on how land your dream job after graduation. During the annual student council meeting, issues to be addressed by the student body are discussed and a new co-chair is elected. The ISPE student socials, also organized by the ISPE Student Council, are a great opportunity to informally meet your peers in a relaxed setting. Student events at each conference are listed in the conference program. This helps students identify the events and plan accordingly.
4. The opportunity to network with other students in pharmacoepidemiology on an international scale.
   In certain circumstances, who you know can be as, or even more, important than what you know. Being a member of SISPE presents you with the opportunity to network with other pharmacoepidemiologists who share your interests and concerns and may open up employment opportunities, help you find an outside reader for your dissertation, and/or make it possible for you to discuss pharmacoepidemiologic problem with a leader in the field.
5. Access to reduced conference rates
   Conference rates are lower for student members of ISPE than for other members. For instance, the on-site conference registration fee for in 2015 is $440 for student non-ISPE members whereas it was $390 for ISPE student members. Similarly, the on-site registration fee for the 2015 ISPE conference was significantly higher for ISPE members from industry ($1,400) and academia or government ($1,375). You can do the math, being a member of SISPE is economically sound!
6. Scholarship Eligibility
   As a member of SISPE, you are also eligible to apply for a scholarship to cover some of the costs associated with attending the annual ISPE conference. In the past, financial assistance has been provided to scholarship recipients in the form of waived conference and ISPE course fees, free one-year ISPE membership, as well as partial reimbursement for travel, lodging, and other expenses. Although non-students may apply for a scholarship, student status is taken into consideration!
7. Opportunities to get involved
   Student members have many opportunities to get involved in ISPE. Student participation is encouraged through attendance at ISPE student council meetings, through the creation of ISPE student chapters (please see the following website for more information on how to create an ISPE student chapter at your school: http://www.pharmacoepi.org/about-ispe/board-of-directors/), through organizing ISPE chapter events, or by running for an executive position in the ISPE Student Council.
8. Voting privileges
   As a member of SISPE you have voting rights when it comes to electing the chair and co-chair of the ISPE student council. The positions of chair and co-chair run for a two year term. At least one month before the annual ICPE meeting, an announcement is sent out to the student body asking persons who are interested in becoming chair or co-chair to submit a short statement of interest which is then circulated to the student body. The formal election is held during the student council meeting with all ISPE student members present at the meeting having a right to vote. Ideally, the chair should be from North America if the next annual meeting will on this continent and the co-chair should be from Europe, and vice-versa.
9. You can list your ISPE membership in the Professional Societies section on your CV
   You should not underestimate the role that involvement in professional societies play when applying for scholarships, submitting grant applications, or applying for jobs.

Resources

• Educational Programs in Pharmacoepidemiology
• ISPE Student to ISPE President, How to get involved with ISPE
• How to create an effective poster
• How to write a good scientific abstract
• 10 top tips for improving your public speaking skills
• Grant writing tip sheets, from the National Institutes of Health, USA
• How to ace an interview
• SISPE Webinar
  • Florida ISPE Student Chapter presents Measurement in US Administrative Databases "Adventures In The Data Swamp"
  • Propensity Scores and how they are Used to Control for Confounding
  • Integrity in Pharmacoepidemiology
  • Missing Data

Student Chapters

North America Chapters

Asian Chapters

European Chapter(s)

Click here to learn more about starting a student chapter.

Click here to download the Student Chapter Application.

Click here to download Student Chapter reimbursement form.

Useful Links

ISPE Student Council Facebook Group

Government Websites
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Food and Drug Administration
European Medicines Agency
Health Canada/Santé Canada

Publicly Available Data
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/express.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Resources
Epidemiologic Calculators
Interactive Statistical Calculation Pages
Sensitivity Analysis Program

Epidemiology Related Associations and Societies
American Statistical Association (ASA) Section on Statistics in Epidemiology
Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
European Epidemiology Societies
International Clinical Epidemiology Network
International Epidemiological Association
International Genetic Society
International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
International Society of Pharmacovigilance
Society for Clinical Trials
Society of Epidemiologic Research
Society for Medical Decision Making
Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology

Sources of Information
US Census Bureau
Eurostat
National Center for Health Statistics

Miscellaneous
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Cochrane Collaboration
Job advertisements for industry clinicians, including epidemiology posts
La méthodologie épidémiologique / Epidemiologic methods
National Cancer Institute Risk Factor and Monitoring Methods
National Institutes of Health
Pan American Health Organization
Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD Comic)
Registry of Clinical Trials
UCLA John Snow Website
UCLA Statistical Computing
World Medical Association (including link to Helsinki Declaration)
World Health Organization
WHO Collaborating Center for Drug Statistics and Methodology (Provides you with DDD and ATC codes for all drugs provided by WHO)

Current Co-Chairs