Dear SCDM Friends,
The SCDM community has had a bustling summer! I took a month vacation to recharge for a busy fall, traveling from Greece to Scotland. Each destination offered unique experiences, whether it was the need for sunscreen or quality rain gear. Both were rich with stunning scenery steeped in historical inspiration. This journey also gave me a newfound appreciation for the width of North American roads!
Reflecting on my clan motto “Aonaibh Ri Chèile,” which translates from Gaelic to “Let Us Unite,” I’m reminded of our SCDM community and how our collective efforts and volunteerism continue to drive our Society for Clinical Data Management forward. By uniting across organizations, we innovate and share our knowledge and expertise.
One of our key advancements is the Clinical Data Associate Certification beta examination, which sets the stage for the formal launch in September. Well over a hundred signed up to participate in the Beta, supported by numerous SCDM volunteers who dedicated countless hours to develop meaningful content for this certification. Alongside this, we launched the Clinical Data Associate 101 early last week, which is now available on SCDM Learning Hub. It provides an overview of key aspects of the SCDM Industry Competency Framework relevant to entry-level roles in Clinical Data Management.
The summer issue of JSCDM has been released, featuring articles on FHIR, clinical data warehousing, SCDM Internships, data science organizational transformations, data standardization and infrastructure research to promote use of Real World Data. Check it out when you get a chance!
Our Learning Hub continues to evolve with new content mapped to the SCDM Industry Competency Framework, improving your learning experience by organizing topics, levels, and session types. If you haven’t visited recently, now is a great time to explore the updated resources.
This summer also saw successful conferences in China and India, focusing on CDS evolution, regulations, RBQM, technology and, of course, AI. Our Chair of SCDM, Patrick Nadolny, traveled to provide the keynote address in person for China. Additionally, our inaugural conference in Bloemfontein, South Africa was a highlight, with over two hundred attendees. A special thank you to Tanya Du Plessis for organizing this event and for our former SCDM chair, Michael Goedde, for his keynote address. Feedback received was overwhelmingly positive, with highlights on the high-quality content, strong networking opportunities as well as significant leadership and international presence. There was also great enthusiasm for networking and engaging in future initiatives.
Board of Trustees meeting updates
During our global Board of Trustees meeting on the 29th of July, we concentrated on budget planning for the annual conference and discussed our fiscal position. We also reviewed leading-edge educational content, global conferences, and innovative content streams, including JSCDM, white papers and podcasts. There were in-depth conversations around advancement of GCDMP chapters associated with Clinical Data Science.
Global Events
SCDM Annual Conference (Sept. 29-Oct. 2, Boston)
Registration is open for the Festival of Opportunity! With a packed program filled with pre-conference workshops, vibrant topics and insightful keynotes, you won’t want to miss your chance to engage directly with global leading experts in data management and our esteemed regulators. The Tuesday night networking event is filling up quickly, so sign up soon. This year’s venue promises to be an exhilarating setting for networking!
SCDM Tokyo
Japan is fast approaching and details around the November event will be announced soon on our social networks.
SCDM India Annual Conference (Dec 5-7., Hyderabad)
Registration is now open and continues to attract global industry leaders. Sessions will cover Risk-Based Data Management, data security, privacy, and regulatory compliance. You’ll get the chance to grow your expertise, discover industry best practices and be the first to learn about innovative methodologies and technologies essential for maintaining data integrity and reliability. Check out the program for more information.
SCDM 2025 EMEA Conference (April 9-11, 2025, Brussels)
Further details will be available the end of this year!
Education & Certification
We are excited to launch the Clinical Data Associate (CCDA) certification in September! If you are new to Clinical Data Management (0-2 years) look out for our official launch notifications coming soon! Additionally, a new on-demand webinar, Clinical Data Associate 101, is now available on our Learning Hub to support this certificiation. For those interested in advancing their certification, CCDM is the next level and this quick link can get you started. If you are looking for content on Clinical Data Science, CDS 101 is a terrific overview. The SCDM community is expanding educational materials around Clinical Data Science, with the CCDS development in progress.
Volunteer
If you are looking to Value, Orient, Learn, Unify, Navigate, Tailor, Engage, Expand and Raise your experience and SCDM knowledge, check out this link to find out more! And if you come up with a better acronym for V.O.L.U.N.T.E.E.R., let me know when you spot me at the next conference! A heartfelt thank you to all current volunteers for your invaluable support!
I look forward to seeing many of you before the end of the year and sharing updates from the upcoming events in the next quarter’s letter!
Cheers, Stephen
Stephen Cameron
Secretary, SCDM Board of Trustees
