Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Summer always gives me pause to think about the first half of the year. I’m reminded this year of one of the lessons that life has taught me: showing up matters. It’s a spirit that we have imbued into AOIC. AOIC is dedicated to advancing medicine and patient care. We collaborate with researchers, healthcare professionals, biopharma, and nonprofit groups to advance drug development by communicating preclinical, clinical, quality of life, and health outcomes data. Our mission in action means we show up where the data are presented.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Annual Meeting (ASCO^®) is one of those places, a gathering with over 40,000 researchers, physicians, drug developers, and patient advocates focused on improving the lives of cancer survivors. This year, I was joined at ASCO by one of AOIC’ s medical writers who had not previously attended. She had the privilege to see her hard work on display during the oral presentations and poster sessions.

The same is true for many other meetings–the Endocrine Society (ENDO), the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), and the American Society of Hematology (ASH), to note a few. All provide the opportunity for professionals to collaborate on practice-changing interventions to better treat patients and improve their quality of life.

We have also found importance in showing up for International Society for Medical Publication Professions™ (ISMPP) meetings, whose vision (per its website) is “to become the leading global authority on the ethical and effective communication of medical research…” AOIC supports ISMPP’s vision, and aspires to achieve this through our team members who have earned the Certified Medical Publication Professional™ (CMPP™) certification.

At the ISMPP annual meeting, and many other conferences, there was significant discussion about the role of AI. AOIC has been working with Drexel University's College of Computing & Informatics to determine how to achieve the benefits of AI while maintaining strict security protocols. The Drexel team’s progress was honored this year by an award at the university. (LobsterAI (2026) | Drexel Senior Project Showcase)

Like so many of you this summer and fall, the AOIC Team has plenty of travel planned. As medical research continues to bring new discoveries to the forefront, we have many miles to go. We look forward to seeing you along the road.

All the best,


Thomas J. Burke
President & CEO