Conference on Semantics in Healthcare and Life Sciences (C-SHALS) 

Clark Golestani, Keynote Speaker

Vice President, Information Technology Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc. Presentation Title: What Must Semantics Do Now To Advance Drug Discovery? (.pdf) Abstract: The pharmaceutical industry finds itself at the edge of a chasm. Familiar challenges of falling research productivity, increasing costs, and tightening regulatory requirements are now being exacerbated by the global economic crisis to provide a burning platform which is driving unprecedented change. The industry is responding in a variety of ways including the formation of broader alliances with competitors, academic organizations and biotechnology companies. Remaining unchanged is the view that one cannot save one's way to prosperity, so the industry continues to make massive investments in research. These yield a vast and rapidly growing sea of data which is the industry's major asset. Yet, the challenge of deriving business value from the data is imposing a double penalty on the industry which it can ill afford. The huge expense of collecting the data continues to be compounded by another huge expense lost business opportunities which arise from inability to integrate across disparate data repositories. This situation is worsening as more broad alliances are formed fluidly across multiple organizations. Semantics hold the promise of providing the fuel for Informatics to address this key challenge, and this prospect offers a massive opportunity for the technology to impact human health. However, the need for usable enterprise semantic solutions is urgent, and the rapid delivery of the right capabilities will require a relentless focus on execution. Biography: Click here (.pdf)

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