Sept. 15, 2026
The 2026 OHDSI Global Symposium (Oct. 20-22, New Brunswick, N.J.) is right around the corner, and our Sept. 15 Community Call (11 am ET) previewed what to expect. Tutorial faculty walked through Tuesday’s lineup to help you choose the best sessions, followed by an overview of the main conference agenda, networking opportunities, and final-day workgroup activities. We’re keeping a few surprises under wraps for the event itself but check the video out to learn the key details and prepare for the biggest week of the OHDSI year.
0:00 – Symposium Overview
2:12 – Tuesday: Tutorials
21:38 – Wednesday: Main Conference
28:27 – Thursday: Workgroup Activities
Community Updates
• Congratulations to the team of Melanie Philofsky and Atif Adam on the recent publication of Enhancing the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model to Support Health Equity Research in Medical Care.
• Congratulations to the team of Muhammad Muinul Islam, Randi Foraker, Md Saber Hossain, W David Arnold, Dima Dandachi, and Abu Saleh Mohammad Mosa on the recent publication of Association of Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 With Dementia Outcomes: Longitudinal Retrospective Cohort Study Using Real-World Electronic Health Record Data in JMIR Formative Research.
• The OHDSI Titan Awards recognize those who have gone above and beyond to foster community engagement, lead research and development efforts, and make significant contributions towards OHDSI’s mission. Individuals, teams or collaborating institutions can be nominated for an award, and you can make as many nominations as you would like. Each nomination must include the nominee’s name, organization, email and a short paragraph describing why the collaborator(s) should be nominated for one of seven Titan Awards. Nominations will be accepted until 8pm ET Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. The 2026 Titan Awards Committee will be responsible for selecting the award winners. NOMINATE HERE
• Registration is open for the 2026 OHDSI Canada Symposium, held Nov. 17-18 in Toronto. This two-day event will bring together researchers, clinicians and data scientists, trainees along with public sector and industry partners from across Canada and beyond to explore the growing use of the OMOP Common Data Model and OHDSI in observational health research. The event will feature a workshop day on Nov. 17 and a main conference day on Nov. 18.
• Registration is open for the 4-day OMOP School in Uppsala, Sweden on Oct. 13-16. There are fewer than 10 spaces remaining, so don’t wait until the final moment to register.
• A call for papers is open for a Journal of Biomedical Informatics special issue focusing on agentic AI for generating trustworthy Real-World Evidence (RWE). The issue seeks contributions on multi-agent collaboration and coordinated autonomy across the RWE lifecycle—such as data harmonization and causal analysis—while excluding single-task AI agents. Submissions are accepted from June 15 through November 15, 2026, with publication slated for September 2027.
• The FALCON (Federated Alliance for Large-scale Cancer Observational Network) Research Network is dedicated to advancing real-world oncology evidence through federated health analyses. The network is hosting its 2026 Symposium and Bladder Cancer Studyathon from Sep. 28-Oct. 1 at Dunden in Antwerp, Belgium. This intensive four-day event kicks off with a general symposium followed by a three-day collaborative working session for researchers, clinicians, and data scientists to generate high-quality clinical evidence on the OMOP CDM.
Job Openings
• Adam Black shared openings for two new positions at Formation Bio, an AI driven pharma company. One position is Associate Director of RWD Intelligence, where you will lead the strategy and execution of our real-world data (RWD) capabilities, building the data foundations that power drug acquisition, clinical development, and portfolio decision-making. You will own the end-to-end lifecycle of RWD: sourcing, procurement, ingestion, harmonization, quality assurance, and delivery of analysis-ready datasets to downstream consumers across Product, Data Science, Clinical Development, and Business Development.
• The second position at Formation Bio is for a Senior Data Scientist – Real World Data. This position sits at the intersection of healthcare data engineering, real-world evidence analysis, and generative AI. While a strong foundation in building reliable, scalable pipelines is essential, you’ll be equally expected to roll up your sleeves and work directly with the data—constructing cohorts, running analyses, and translating findings into actionable insights for scientific and business stakeholders. More details and an application link are available on both position links.
Upcoming Events
• The UK Symposium will be held September 18 at the University of Nottingham, preceded by an OMOP Training Day on September 17.
• Registration is open for the 2026 OHDSI Global Symposium, held Oct. 20–22 at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, N.J. You can also read more about our 12 new tutorial offerings and workgroup activities which will take place during the event.
• Registration is open for the 2026 OHDSI APAC Symposium, which will take place Nov. 13-15 at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. This will be a 3-day event, kicking off with the main conference and then including tutorials and a datathon during the weekend. Please check the event homepage for details on the agenda.
• Registration is open for the OHDSI Canada Symposium, held Nov. 17-18 in Toronto, Ont. The event will feature a workshop day on Nov. 17 and a main conference day on Nov. 18.
• The third annual OHDSI India Symposium has been scheduled for December 11th in Chennai. More details and registration information will be shared with the community as they become available.
Social Showcase
• Research from the 2026 Europe Symposium Collaborator Showcase is being shared daily on OHDSI’s LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram and Bluesky social channels as part of the #OHDSISocialShowcase. Below are posters (with study leads) that are featured this week:
Monday — PREPARE for Precision: Patient-level prediction models for nonsurgical thumb base osteoarthritis treatment (Krijn Polder)
Tuesday — Federated OMOP-based observational analysis of HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer across Europe: methodological development and clinical insights from the DigiONE network (Stelios Theophanous)
Wednesday — Variation in adherence to preventative medicines following myocardial infarction: a UK cohort study (Elin J Rowlands)
Thursday — Regional, socioeconomic, and ethnic variation in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus comorbid with depression and/or anxiety: a UK population-based descriptive study (Anna Saura-Lazaro)
Friday — First-episode psychosis pharmacotherapy: an antipsychotics comparative effectiveness study protocol (Tatsiana Skuhareuskaya)
Slides
Symposium Preview & Community Updates
Video Presentation
Global Symposium Preview