Contribute to the development of EU policy on in silico medicine

The VPH Policy Affairs Working Group (PAWG) has been active over the last 4 years in promoting in silico medicine in EU policy with the primary goal of sourcing funding for our members in the field of in silico and modelling and simulation in Horizon 2020 calls. Before the activities of the VPH PAWG, there was only a single mention of in silico, buried within a call text on vaccines with no funding streams for in silico. Due to the efforts of the PAWG and our policy maker allies, there are now 2 stand-alone calls entirely dedicated to in silico medicine and several more for modelling and simulation and predictive medicine. The VPH PAWG is therefore happy to report success and new funding opportunities for our members.

2016 will be a year where the PAWG “ups its game”. 2016 sees the establishment of the Avicenna Alliance, a partnership with industry members that will focus on challenges to the in silico market. With 50% industry membership (from medical devices, pharmaceutical and software companies) and 50% membership of the VPH institute, the Alliance will work toward addressing barriers to the uptake of VPH solutions. The European Commission has directly requested, that the Alliance develops a set of challenges and solutions for in silico medicine. Our policy affair consultants from Rohde Public Policy predict that this represents the beginning of the formation of EU policy on in silico medicine and that the Commission is reaching out to the VPH Institute to form these policies. This provides the Institute with an unique opportunity but one that can only be met with direct input from the VPH membership.

Who should join:

• Any VPHi members interested in Policy Affairs and in the creation of new funding opportunities for in silico medicine
• No specific knowledge in policies development is required (all policy related information will be supplied by our colleagues from Rohde Public Policy. You will contribute to the group with your scientific knowledge and wisdom)

Benefits:
By joining the PAWG,

• you will gain a front row seat in the development of the future funding streams forin silico medicine, collaborating with policy experts and representatives of the major industries in the sector (medical devices, pharmaceutical and software companies)
• you will get privileged access to inside policy information and you will contribute to the drafting of policy documents as strategy documents, proposals for policies, recommendations for standards, protocols and the like

Commitment:

• 1 hour teleconference per month
• availability to read policy information and contribute to drafting of strategic documents
• availability to participate to policy events mainly in Brussels (1/2 per year) 

If you would be willing to join the VPH PAWG and play a direct role in the development of EU policy on in silico medicine, please email us directly to express your interest. 

Lies Geris – PAWG Chair, email: liesbet.geris@ulg.ac.be
Martina Contin – VPHi Manager, email: manager@vph-institute.org

Are you not a member yet? Join us now!