President’s Message: A Year Like No Other

We finally saw the end of a year like no other—2020. The global coronavirus pandemic challenged each of us, including our organizations, governments, and families.

First and foremost, we should consider the impact this has had on so many lives around the world. The health impact has been staggering, and it is hard to envision that as of January 12, 2021 almost 2 million people have died, and more than 91 million have been infected. In addition to the terrible health impacts, the control measures that are continuing to be implemented have affected many more people’s livelihood and social activity.

But 2020 also saw our industry respond to the crisis in dramatic ways: continuing to supply critical medical products; rapidly developing diagnostics and treatments; and developing vaccines in an unprecedented short time. All our members, in ways large and small, contributed to this effort.

Here at PDA, we have been similarly called upon to deal with this crisis. We rapidly shifted our staff to remote working. We rescheduled, canceled, and restructured to virtual, dozens of conferences, workshops, and training courses. Through it all, we have striven to maintain the support for you, our members. Through your efforts, we continued to bring valuable information and content to members and non-members worldwide.

In 2020 we hosted more than 100 events, from conferences and workshops to webinars and training courses. Our team worked hard to rapidly assess platforms and implement virtual events. Our science and regulatory efforts yielded our first ANSI standard, 12 other technical publications, and 9 regulatory comments. We published translation of several technical reports in Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish. We launched Europe and Asian editions of the PDA Letter.

As we look forward to 2021, we know that the pandemic situation continues to have a major impact. Nonetheless we expect an even busier year, with global conferences both virtual and hybrid. Our technical pipeline is full, with almost 20 technical documents on track to be completed in 2021. There will continue to be significant impact, but there is light at the end of this tunnel. We will continue Connecting People, Science and Regulation® with your help and support. Remember, this is your association. I look forward to hearing from you in the coming year. Happy New Year.

Be safe, be positive and be proud of your contributions. Thank you for all you do!

Best Regards, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Meilleures salutations, Distinti saluti, Saludos cordials, よろし,
Richard Johnson, President & CEO