[NMusers] September 2008 Fisher/Shafer NONMEM Workshop in San Francisco

Dear Colleagues:
 
Dennis Fisher and I are pleased to announce the 8th "Fisher/Shafer =
NONMEM
Workshop" to be held in San Francisco in September, 2008.

Course Dates:
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 through Sunday, September 21st, 2008.
 
Course Location:
San Francisco, California
 
Course Web Site:
http://www.nonmemcourse.com

Course Description: 
The Fisher/Shafer NONMEM Workshop covers NONMEM VI, 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, Windows and UNIX scripts, the full set of examples, R, and the
graphics scripts developed by Drs. Fisher and Shafer are all provided to =
the
users on a USB drive (flash drive). 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, running examples on his or her laptop as the instructor =
works
through the concepts. Attendees may also keep the course materials =
(course
booklets, PowerPoint files, help files, examples, and a sizeable =
collection
of reprints) for subsequent reference.
 
Although a wide variety of NONMEM examples are provided for training, =
most
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 3 pm. From 3 pm until 5 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.
 
Wednesday Half-Day Courses
Introduction to 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 little or 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 application for the workshop be =
found
at http://www.nonmemcourse.com.

Sincerely,

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


Received on Thu Jan 17 2008 - 14:48:25 EST