Editorial

Message from Global Chief Executive:
Illumination, Information, Innovation, and Inclusion

y first DIA Global Annual Meeting was a tremendous capstone to my first six months with DIA and provides an ideal inflection point to simultaneously look back and look ahead. It is in many ways the beginning and culmination of DIA’s international, yearly conference and workshop calendar in Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, Japan, China, Canada, Singapore, and the US.

Looking back, Illumination was common in the themes of both our China Annual Meeting and Global Annual Meeting this past June. And although we respectively gathered in Suzhou and Boston, we convened to make life better for patients of every color and gender, from every country, all around the world, by illuminating new models and pathways toward that future.

As we continue to look ahead, DIA is evolving. We are enhancing how we support our loyal members and growing our scientific leadership to positively impact the development of innovative solutions for patients. Today, scientific innovation, from the regulatory and research perspectives, is driven and accelerated by exponential growth in data science and related technologies that help us to better understand the patient’s perspective and experience. New and improved data sciences, properly embedded in data tools and systems, will keep improving the efficiency of clinical research and drug and device development. Additionally, streamlining the integration of innovative diagnostics and devices with therapeutic development will accelerate work throughout the global life sciences industry.

The future of clinical research and therapeutic product development, and the future of DIA, are tied together at the critical points of data, drugs, devices, diagnostics, digitization, and digitalization. The “D” in DIA is expanding into these areas by necessity–because they have become essential to developing better drugs that meet unmet needs in patient populations.

It’s also important to address the “I” in DIA, in addition to the meeting theme Illumination, from the perspective of inclusivity.

We all recognize the importance of information, which has been part of DIA’s legacy since we were founded in 1964. And we all recognize the importance of innovation for not only our own growth but for the life science industry’s growth, too. Information is in our name. Innovation is how we work, and what we do.

But inclusive is what we are. The future of DIA will be more illuminating and innovative if we continue to welcome every voice into our frameworks and discussions.

We will continue to be the association (the “A” in DIA) that works with you to explore the intersections and horizons that are sure to arise before next year’s 60th anniversary celebration at DIA 2024 in San Diego. Thank you for joining DIA as we work toward a better future for patients all around the world. Let’s keep working together so that this better future will be here before we know it.