[NMusers] Fisher/Shafer NONMEM (Version 6) Course Availability: Ghent 2007

Subject:
Fisher/Shafer NONMEM 6 Course Availability - Ghent, Belgium

Dates:
Dates: Wednesday, March 7, 2007 through Sunday, March 11, 2007

Course Organizers:
Dennis Fisher, MD, The "P <" Company
Steve Shafer, MD, Stanford University

Web Site:
http://www.nonmemcourse.com

There are still seats available for the fourth Fisher/Shafer NONMEM 6
Workshop. This workshop will be held Wednesday, March 7, 2007 through
Sunday, March 11, 2007 at Het Pand in Ghent, Belgium.

The Fisher/Shafer NONMEM Workshop covers NONMEM (version 6), data =
handling,
model building, and model diagnostics. The workshop includes an =
extensive
set of example problems ranging from simple didactic examples to =
demonstrate
basic concepts to complex examples from the instructors' own =
experiences.
Registrants are provided with a comprehensive set of graphical tools
programmed in the R statistical language to create high-quality =
diagnostic
and analysis plots. Registrants are also given Windows scripts to =
organize
NONMEM analyses and provide audit trails.

The distinguishing characteristic of this workshop is that each =
individual
brings his or her laptop computer. A copy of NONMEM, the GNU Fortran
Compiler, the Windows and UNIX scripts, the full set of examples, and R =
are
all provided to the users on a USB drive (flash drive) on Thursday =
morning
(Wednesday afternoon for those in the Introduction to NONMEM workshop or =
the
R workshop - see below). The entire course is run from the USB drive,
leaving no footprint on the registrant's computer. NONMEM is removed at =
the
end of the course, but the other software is in the public domain and =
may be
kept after the course. The registrant follows along with the =
instructors,
testing examples on his or her laptop as the instructor works through =
the
concepts.

Although a wide variety of NONMEM examples are provided for training, at
least half of the course participants bring real data from their work to =
the
course. Typically these are data sets that require complex models =
unfamiliar
to the participants, or are data that have been refractory to =
conventional
modeling approaches. The course provides an opportunity for participants =
to
review their data with the course instructors. Typically users leave the
course with the tools required to model their data and with insight into =
the
reason the data were difficult to model.

The workshop runs from Thursday morning until Sunday noon. Each day =
includes
6 hours of instruction, ending at 2 pm. From 2 pm until 4 pm, =
registrants
work on either the example problems, or on a data set of the =
registrant's
choosing (frequently a difficult problem from work).

The course is intended for individuals at the intermediate level. Those
without substantial NONMEM experience are urged to sign up for the
beginner's workshop described below. This should be adequate preparation =
to
allow the novice to follow the main workshop.

Because NONMEM is such a flexible tool, experienced NONMEM users have =
found
the NONMEM Workshop valuable. In part, this is because the course
instructors bring their unique perspectives to the application of NONMEM =
to
data analysis. It is also because of the breadth of examples provided.
Experienced users will find the introduction on Wednesday afternoon too
basic, but they may find the R workshop on Wednesday morning to be =
useful.

This course will be based on NONMEM 6, the recently released version of
NONMEM from Globomax.

Wednesday Half-Day Courses

Programming in R
Wednesday, 8 am - noon
This course, given Wednesday morning, covers the R statistical =
programming
language. Within the regular workshop, all participants will be =
introduced
to the use of R to create diagnostic graphics for NONMEM. However, =
minimal
time will be devoted to understanding the code used in these graphics. =
This
course provides a more extensive introduction to the use of R (and the
closely related language S-Plus). R is a remarkable tool for data
management, graphics, and statistics. This session will focus on the use =
of
R to read data, assemble a NONMEM dataset, perform basic statistics, and
generate graphics.

Introduction to NONMEM
Wednesday 1 pm - 5 pm
For those with no prior experience with NONMEM, we will provide a ½ =
day
session on the Wednesday afternoon before the course to prepare you for =
the
Intermediate course described above. Registrants will be taught the =
basics
of NONMEM: 1) constructing a control stream, 2) constructing a data =
file,
and 3) running NONMEM

The course description, schedule, and applications can be found at
www.nonmemcourse.com.

Sincerely,

Steve Shafer
--------------------------------------------------------
Steven L. Shafer, MD
Professor, Department of Anesthesia, Stanford University
Adjunct Professor, Biopharmaceutical Sciences, UCSF
Editor-in-Chief, Anesthesia & Analgesia


Received on Wed Jan 24 2007 - 16:57:16 EST