A Brief History of ISPE's Regional Interest Groups (RIGs)

A Brief History of ISPE’s Regional Interest Groups (RIGs)

ISPE’s 2024-2029 Strategic Plan includes an objective to EMPOWER our membership to grow and engage by recognizing the need for diverse perspectives by training, geography, and type of medical interventions studied. But long before the current Strategic Plan, ISPE has supported engagement across key regions in the world, including:

• Although not formally an ISPE “RIG”, since 2010, the European Drug Utilization Group (EuroDURG) has functioned as the European branch of ISPE’s Drug Utilization Research Special Interest Group (SIG).
• Establishment of the ISPE RIGs, which provide our members the opportunity to grow ISPE and the pharmacoepidemiology field in specific areas where a smaller group of ISPE members are active, and
• Supporting regional meetings beyond the ISPE Annual Meeting, starting with the inaugural Asian Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology (ACPE) conducted in 2007 in Shanghai, China (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/pds.1362).

Things have come a long way since then! In addition to usually conducting an annual ACPE meeting, other ISPE regional meetings are held every 3 years including Africa, Gulf, and LatAM. The current RIGs, their missions, and a brief overview of other RIG-specific details are highlighted in the following sections.

Africa

The Africa RIG (AfRIG) was established in May 2018. Currently 160 members strong on ISPE Exchange, the AfRIG’s inaugural meeting was conducted virtually in 2021. The most recent meeting was held earlier this year (April 2026) in Accra, Ghana, themed “African data, African solutions: Harnessing real-world evidence for safer medicines, vaccines and health technologies”, with the sub-theme “Using Epidemiology to Support the WHO Goal of Global Reduction in Chronic Diseases”. A special highlight of the conference was the “Presidents’ Forum”, a live panel discussion of ISPE presidents (past, present, and future), who provided the audience with a panoramic view of the origins of the field of pharmacoepidemiology, ISPE, key organizational initiatives, accomplishments, and vision.

Asia

ISPE’s Asia RIG is governed by ISPE Policy concerning its prime responsibility for organization of ISPE’s annual ACPE. After 10 years of experience convening ISPE scientific meetings across Asia, in 2016 the Board formalized its policies specifying the form, nature, and governance of ACPE. In 2019, when the Board adopted new policies governing RIGs, the Asian Region was acknowledged, but it was not until 2025-6 that the structure of the Asia RIG was formalized. The Asia RIG, with current membership currently engaging more than 50 ISPE members throughout the world, welcomes all ISPE members who have an interest in the Asian region and meets online approximately biannually as the ACPE International Steering Committee. ACPE 2025 was the 17th ACPE, with a theme focused on advancing pharmaceutical education and research through innovation and collaboration by bringing together global experts, educators, and industry leaders.The ACPE 2026 meeting will be held the end of October in Melbourne, Australia.

Gulf Region

The Gulf RIG (GRIG) gained formal approval by the ISPE Board in early 2013, and soon after, the GRIG structure was identified and GRIG activities were activated. As of August 2026, the Gulf RIG currently has 41 members on ISPE Exchange. At ISPE’s 2025 Annual Meeting, the Gulf RIG conducted a special session Annual Meeting where in addition to highlighting their current and upcoming initiatives, featured His Excellency Prof. Hisham Aljadhey, President of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, renowned internationally for his leadership in patient safety, regulatory science, and global health policy.

Latin America

The LatAM RIG was established in 2023 through the merger of ISPE’s BRAZINT Chapter and the former ISPE Latin America RIG (LARIG, established in 2013). With 112 current members on ISPE Exchange and representatives from 9 countries, the LatAM RIG is a well-established regional community that contributes to research, education, and international collaboration within ISPE. Since the RIG was established in 2023, they have organized regular webinars, bilingual newsletters, educational activities, the II ISPE LATAM Pharmacoepidemiology Congress, and launched the first Latin American Summer School in Pharmacoepidemiology, and have also promoted a dedicated special issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.Their most recent meeting was conducted in 2025 in São Paulo, Brazil.

Interested to join one of the RIGs? Please visit the ISPE Communities page (https://www.pharmacoepi.org/communities/rigs/) for contact information and additional details