On Tuesday, July 26, the Foundation hosted a webinar to discuss open science and share tools and resources with researchers in our field.
Foundation staff was joined by David Mellor, PhD, from the Center for Open Science, and Holly Smith, MBA, PMP, and Jon McDunn, PhD, from Project Data Sphere. Topics included open-access data sharing platforms and the cornerstones of open science policy. Attendees also learned about the Foundation’s open science initiatives and a number of platforms and resources they can use today to improve the accessibility of their research and data.
Panelists
David Mellor, PhD
Director of Policy Initiatives, Center for Open Science
David Mellor, PhD, leads the policy and incentive programs at the Center for Open Science. These seek to reward increased transparency and reduced bias in scientific research and are outlined in the Center’s Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines. These programs incentivize data sharing, study registration, and replication research. David received his PhD from Rutgers University and his research background is in behavioral ecology and citizen science.
Jon McDunn, PhD
Executive Director, External Control Arm Program and Business Development, Project Data Sphere
Jon McDunn, PhD, is the Executive Director of the External Control Arm (ECA) Program and Business Development at Project Data Sphere, an independent initiative of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer focused on fighting cancer through open-access data sharing and oncology-focused research program initiatives. The ECA program is a collaborative effort of clinicians, trialists, biostatisticians, and data scientists to use existing clinical data to accelerate and strengthen evidence generation in clinical development. Jon is also the scientific and technical lead for strategic alliances and business development. In this capacity, he scouts and evaluates collaborative opportunities with new and existing partners.
Holly Smith, MBA, PMP
Director, Data Sharing Products & Platform, Project Data Sphere
Holly Smith is the Director of Technology at CEO RT and leads Project Data Sphere’s (PDS) data sharing platform and collaborative research space. Holly has led several initiatives to PDS’ open access platform in partnership with SAS Institute to enable a more intuitive research and analytics environment along with demonstration projects incorporating dynamic visualizations to facilitate advancements of PDS led research. Holly has a background in mechanical engineering and has been leading complex technology and IT data centric initiatives since 2010.