Dear CSPS Colleagues,

A New Year has begun and 2023 is waiting to be written!

We at CSPS extend a warm welcome to our new members to the Board of Directors (Drs. Afsaneh Lavasanifar and Emmanuel Ho) and to our new President-Elect Dr. Amyn Sayani. We will continue to navigate together the challenges and opportunities we face during the global health crisis for the benefit of CSPS and all our members. We have already had an opportunity to show our value to our partners by adapting to and keeping abreast of changes and threats to the field.  Foremost, continual innovation is the name of our game and we have maintained resiliency in our performance with changes to our operations strategy as necessary. Pharmaceutical innovation comes collectively from academic laboratories in universities, government agencies, contract research organizations, privately financed venture capital-backed pharma start-ups, and BigPharma. Our research partnerships and collaborative programmes at CSPS have made us stronger together and together stronger. 2023 is exactly our moment to shine in these “Next Frontiers” as CSPS further emerges from the intensity of the pandemic. Succeeding in Canadian Pharmaceutical Science under the conditions we have been exposed to has required successful research endeavours, adaptation, innovation and lateral thinking. Our emerging research outcomes and our productivity is something very special that we must showcase together.

I have closed my eyes and imagined the future in my head and here is my CSPS forecast for our silver jubilee as we march into 2023……

We have so much to look forward to with our CSPS Symposium The Next Frontiers in Pharmaceutical Sciences which is on the horizon in Toronto May 24-26, 2023 at the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) in downtown Toronto. With our collective spirit a pharmaceutical spring storm is coming to Toronto and it will sparkle and crackle in a delivery system of innovation and a hail of abstracts and posters and culminate in a thunderous dispersion of applause and awards. Our next meeting is three long years and far away from our last live symposium, but shoulder to shoulder, side-by side we will be together again actively listening to remarkable pharmaceutical science from colleagues, friends, trainees; scientists all, who will turn the pages of our abstract books which are waiting to be written.

So, it is now time to fulfill your New Years resolutions and get those abstracts submitted – CSPS/CC-CRS Annual Symposium Abstract Submissions. Let’s hear your stories, your voices, and your pharmaceutical successes once again this May. CSPS will not disappoint with a fantastic silver anniversary programme planned for you with an array of keynote and plenary speakers amounting to an infusion of personalized medicine for your pharmaceutical needs.

This program cast of world-class speakers coupled with our Posters and Awards Program which further rewards your excellence, and the enthusiasm of our Young Scientist Network (YSN) will blaze our path forward. We are also partnering again with the Controlled Release Society (CRS) Chapter of Canada, and with Health Canada, the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (PSJ) and also have the support and backing of big and small pharma innovators and generics alike across Canada to ensure our symposiums success through networking with pharmaceutical scientists and industry and regulatory leaders pushing the Next Frontiers.

It is from our CSPS collective with one voice, carrying the hopes of pharmaceutical sciences in Canada we will advance health through innovation and ignite and envelop Toronto in a pharmaceutical blizzard. Mentoring sessions and poster presentations for trainees in the Young Scientists Network will be once again at the heart of our symposium. At CSPS we will disseminate how we are advancing gene editing technologies, slowing growth in immune-oncology, and are deepening our collective interests in artificial intelligence for drug discovery and development. In addition, we will showcase how we are building and broadening our pharmaceutical sciences expertise from bench to business through foundational discovery and translational pharmaceutical sciences.

It is for the benefit of others that we can act and acquire further meaning and purpose in our professional lives. Every man, woman and child (all people in Canada) will benefit from our ongoing pharmaceutical investigations. Nothing is more exciting than our ability to make a difference to society by advancing pharmaceutical science. The influential research investigations at CSPS which are driving innovations in pharmaceutical sciences will be highlighted once again though our symposium and throughout the rest of 2023 and in our journal – Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.

What a privilege we all have everyday as members of CSPS. You can assist us further and give back through your involvement with our trainees at the symposium and with your donations and financial support towards the society’s activities through our CPSF foundation (DONATION INFORMATION – DONATE NOW!). I look forward to your active participation as we begin our adventure down the road towards our next 25 years.

Together stronger and stronger together.

Happy New Year CSPS!

Sincerely,

Neal M. Davies R.Ph. Ph.D. FCAHS

President of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences