UPSS - Previous Years

2024

The 12th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School (UPSS) took place from August 12 to August 23, 2024. This year, we were delighted to welcome 34 participants from 16 countries across five continents: Europe (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK), Asia (China, Malaysia), Oceania (New Zealand), North America (USA), and Africa (Mali, South Africa).

To support travel expenses for students from developing countries, two participants received Pharmacometrics Africa travel grants, and one participant was awarded a Pharmetheus travel grant.

UPSS 2024 maintained its hallmark combination of lectures, hands-on sessions, poster presentations, and group work activities. Special talks and events provided opportunities for participants to engage with leading experts in pharmacometrics. Additionally, a social program was organized to foster connections among attendees and offer a chance to explore Uppsala and Sweden through a variety of activities.

This year’s course was organized by Alzahra Hamdan and Salma Bahnasawy.

2023

The 11th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School was held between 14th and 25th August 2023. We welcomed 39 participants from 18 diverse countries, representing Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden), Asia (India, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, Thailand), Oceania (New Zealand), North America (USA), South America (Brazil), and Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe). In order to support travelling costs for students from developing countries, three students were awarded with a Novartis travel grant, two were awarded a Pharmacometrics Africa travel grant, and two were awarded a Pharmetheus travel grant.

UPSS 2023 continued featuring lectures, hands-on sessions, poster presentations, and group work activities. Special talks and events were organized, allowing participants to interact with experts in pharmacometrics. On top of that, a social programme was planned to allow people to know each other and both Uppsala and Sweden during the broad range of organized activities.

This year’s course was organized by Diego Vera and Yuanxi Zou.

2022

After a two year hiatus, the 10th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School (UPSS), took place between 15th and 26th August 2022, welcomed 40 PhD students from 16 different countries and 6 continents. This included students from Europe (Austria, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland), Asia (Thailand), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (USA), South America (Brazil) and Africa (Egypt, South Africa). To support costs from developing countries, four students were awarded a Novartis travel grant, and two students were awarded a Pharmacometrics Africa travel grant.

As previous years, UPSS 2022 provided lectures, hands-on sessions, poster presentations and group work activities. This year two special events were arranged where participants had the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with experts in the field working in different areas. Moreover, participants could get know each other better and learn more about Uppsala and the Swedish culture through the wide range of social activities carried out during the course.

This year the course was organized by Anders Thorsted and Simon J. Carter..

2019

The 9th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School, during 12th - 23rd August, welcomed 33 PhD students from 16 different countries and 6 continents: Europe (Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden), Asia (Thailand), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (USA), South America (Brazil) and Africa (South Africa). Three students were awarded with a Novartis travel grant.

As in previous years, UPSS 2019 provided lectures, hands-on sessions, poster presentations and group work activities. This year, two special events were arranged where participants had the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with experts in the pharmacometrics working in different areas. Moreover, participants could get to know each other better and learn more about Uppsala and the Swedish culture through the wide range of social activities carried out during the course.

This year the course was organized by Iris Minichmayr and Carolina Llanos-Paez.

2018

36 participants (from 18 different countries) attended the 8th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School (UPSS) during August 2018. Participants originated from Europe (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden), Asia (China, India), Africa (Uganda, South Africa), North America (United States) and South America (Brazil, Cuba). Five students were awarded a Novartis travel grant.

The course continued to provide attendees with informative lectures and practical hands-on sessions. The student poster session was appreciated by the participants and the social program was, as in previous years, a hit! We hope that long-lasting friendships and professional networks have been formed through UPSS 2018.

This year’s course was organized by Gunnar Yngman and Sreenath Krishnan.

“It’s a great course, great introduction on many of the modeling theories and concepts, with useful hands-on for practice, and materials for reference, and social program for fun to interact with everyone.”

“We learned a lot during the lectures and were introduced into many different topics, accompanied by very useful hands-on exercises. I will benefit from the course throughout my whole PhD project!”

“It was amazing, I am so thankful that I was able to attend!”

2017

More than 30 participants attended the 7th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School during August 2017. The participants were from 18 countries, mostly from Europe, but also from Asia (Hong Kong, India, Israel, Taiwan, Thailand), Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe), North America (USA), and South America (Uruguay). Five students were awarded a Novartis travel grant.

As in the previous years, the programme this year also included lectures, hands-on exercises, and poster presentations. The social programme included many activities, and was an opportunity for the participants to learn more about each other’s research and form friendships.

This year’s course was organised by Eva Germovsek.

Some comments from the participants:

"The course is extremely amazing. It's of great benefit to know the linearized SCM and the ways of dealing with time-varying covariates & missing covariates."

"The complete course involving the hands-on session followed by lectures is useful. Especially the two days allotted for group work helped to understand and implement the concepts learned. Further, the poster session of our work provided the opportunity to discuss our research work with experts from Uppsala and other participants and have suggestions or comments from them."

"After every lecture, it was good to actually work with the software. The group work was also very useful for using a lot of what we have seen during the week."

2016

In August 2016, we invited 30 participants to the 6th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School, with Novartis travel grants awarded to five PhD students from China, Thailand and Iran.
The schedule consisted of both lectures, hands-on sessions, poster presentations and group work with supervision from seniors in the department. Also, the highly appreciated social programme gave the participants two weeks to remember.

Gustaf Wellhagen and João Abrantes organised the course this year.

2015

In August 2015 PhD student from 13 countries, including Cuba, India, and Uganda, was welcomed to the 5th Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School. Of the 31 students, five students were awarded a Novartis travel grant, sponsoring their participation in the course.
Lectures with accompanying hands-on sessions were as usual part of the course together with the much appreciated poster session were each student was given the opportunity to discuss their work with tutors and fellow students.

The course was organized by Oskar Alskär and Oskar Clewe.

Quote from the course evaluation of UPSS 2015:

This is the best pharmacometrics course I have taken during my PhD training.

2014

In August 2014 we had the pleasure of welcoming 28 external PhD students from universities in 13 different countries to the 4th Uppsala Pharmacometrics summer school. Of the 28 students, 6 students were awarded a Novartis travel grant, sponsoring their stay in Sweden.
The course continued to provide attendees with informative lectures and helpful, yet sometimes demanding, hands-on sessions. The student poster session was appreciated by all those attending and the social program was, as in previous years, a hit. We hope that many friendships have been formed through UPSS.
The course was organized by Ari Brekkan who thanks all attendees and tutors for their participation.

Quotes from the course evaluation of UPSS 2014:

Thanks for two nice weeks. We learnt a lot!"

I really enjoyed the course and I will recommend the experience to everyone working in PK or PKPD modeling!

In general the course was great! Invaluable opportunity to further knowledge and skills in modelling and network.

Thank you for amazing two weeks of learning and fun. The course organization and social activities were awesome!

Many thanks to all the organizing team for arranging such an excellent course - it was a really valuable experience, enhanced by the very high-quality lectures and focused practical sessions. It was particularly beneficial to work with students from different professional disciplines, who are applying Pharmacometrics in very varied contexts, and it was also really inspiring to be taught by so many experts in the field. I would highly recommend this course to any PhD students working in the field of Pharmacometrics.

2013

During the 3rd Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School in 2013 we had the pleasure to welcome 28 external PhD students from universities in 16 different countries. All inhabited continents of the world were represented once again. This year, 7 students from developing countries were generously sponsored by Novartis.
The course, organized by Emilie Schindler, featured informative lectures, great student presentations, helpful hands-on sessions and, as in previous years, an entertaining social program.

Quotes from the course evaluation of UPSS 2013:

“There was a good mix of classic tools and newer approaches. The software presentations were also very helpful.”

“I think those 2 weeks are brilliantly thought in terms of equilibrium between lectures/hands-on/ group work.”

“It is an excellent contribution by Uppsala Pharmacometric Group to propagate the concept of Pharmacometrics.”

“I learned a lot and came back with some very tangible results.”

“Those 2 weeks were great. The interactions with people from the group and students all over the world are a wonderful opportunity to learn both methods and applications beyond our traditional field.”

“This is the best course I have been able to take during my PhD…the summer school gave excellent tools to work with (PsN, Pirana, R scripts, Berkeley Madonna, etc.) which totally helped for coding for NONMEM, with many examples during the lectures and hands-on sessions.”

2012

In August 2012 we had the pleasure to welcome 36 external PhD students from Universities in 22 different countries to the 2nd Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School. All continents of the world (apart from Antarctica) were represented and six students from developing countries were generously sponsored by Novartis.
The course was organized by Elin Svensson.

Quotes from the course evaluation of UPSS 2012:

"Great organization, excellent scientific quality of the course contents and good social program."

"It was really very useful; it enlightened me with various concepts and methods which I have never even heard of."

"Great opportunity for learning, exchange ideas, meet people in the field, and time also to enjoy the stay in Uppsala."

"It was a wonderful exposure to the world of Pharmacometrics."

"The summer school is very great and the pattern that lecture and hands-on combined is very helpful for us to study modeling."

"The social program is a very good chance to get to know other people from other groups and countries.We made lasting friendships which are important since we will have many chances of meeting each other in the future."

2011

The first ever Uppsala Pharmacometrics Summer School was held in August 2011 by the Pharmacometric Research Group at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences in Uppsala. The first UPSS welcomed 30 PhD students from universities in 17 countries (representing 5 of the 7 continents).
The course, organized by Elodie Plan, was a resounding success and it was decided to make it an annual event.