The following transcript has been edited for clarity.
Diana V. Do, MD: Hi, I'm Diana V. Do, MD. I’m joined by my colleague and friend, Deepak Sambhara, MD, FASRS. Tell me about your excitement on Clinical Trials at the Summit and what you’re looking forward to.
Deepak Sambhara, MD, FASRS: Diana, thanks for having me. This is an amazing meeting, the premier meeting for retina specialists as well as industry folks who are involved in clinical trials or who are starting to scratch the surface. The exciting things to me are those fireside chats, where we’re going to see industry meet together with former regulators like Wiley A. Chambers, MD, and understand what it actually takes to get a drug commercialized or through the regulatory approval process. These are questions that we all are asking ourselves and as a clinician, it's good for me to understand exactly what boxes need to be checked, how long it takes, and what the rigors are that a company and a sponsor has to go through in order to get new therapies to market for our patients. And so it's something that I’m super looking forward to.
In addition to that, seeing the robust trial data that’s going to be presented, the panels from sponsors across different therapeutic areas—it’s such a high-impact meeting and the fact that it takes place during one action-packed day is just the cherry on top, because it’s in Las Vegas and there’s a lot to enjoy here as well.
Dr. Do: If you had to give a young retina specialist some advice about how to become successful in clinical trials, what would that advice be?
Dr. Sambhara: Keep asking questions, keep networking. The daunting thing is we are so used to reading papers from Diana V. Do, MD, or from Arshad M. Khanani, MD, but you guys are just as approachable as anyone that we would ever run into in the retina space. And so don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to look for mentorship and ask for help. There are tons of opportunities and willing mentors that are out there. And so if you’re trying to start to throw your hat into the ring, attending CTS would be a great place to start and finding mentorship from people who are longtime attendees and on the executive committee is not a bad idea.
Dr. Do: Thank you so much, Deepak, and we look forward to talking to you at future meetings.
Dr. Sambhara: Thanks for having me. RP
