It is being held in lieu of the cancelled OHDSI European Symposium, which would have taken place in Oxford. Lead organiser Daniel Prieto-Alhambra, Professor of Pharmaco- and Device Epidemiology at NDORMS said: "Our organising committee was hit quite hard when we realised it would be necessary to cancel our long-awaited OHDSI European Symposium, but we quickly realised that our community could come together and make a difference in this global pandemic."
"We are using the time for a COVID-19 virtual study-a-thon that will catalyze a long journey of shared research ahead. Based on the early enthusiasm of our many registrants, I'm optimistic that we can make important progress on the journey and make a meaningful contribution to this international effort."
More than 290 people from 29 different countries have registered for the four-day online event. Alongside the Oxford team are researchers from Erasmus Medical Center, Columbia University, UCLA, Ajou University, Janssen Research and Development, and IQVIA with active participation across government, industry, and academia.