Join DS2 at DPHARM 2026
DPHARM lands in Boston on September 15 and 16, and the DS2 team will be there for both days. We're in the sessions, and free around them to meet customers and partners. Put a time in with us.
Let's Connect in Boston
DPHARM brings together the clinical innovation directors, clinical operations leaders, site teams and patient advocates who are shaping how trials reach people. It is a community DS2 is proud to work alongside, and we are looking forward to two days of it. If your program is bringing collection closer to the patient, we would love to talk about the practical side. Designing and building the collection kit, getting it to the door, arranging a phlebotomist where one helps, bringing the sample back inside its stability window, and returning the result to your systems. Tell us what your protocol asks of a participant and we will happily talk through how we would support it.
We often find during these events that the diary fills up quickly. Use the form and we'll block a time for you to meet our team while availability lasts.
Why Attend DPHARM 2026?
Now in its sixteenth year, DPHARM is run by The Conference Forum and describes itself as the premier event for transforming clinical trials to reduce patient and physician burden, enhance inclusivity, and drive efficiency. Over a thousand senior pharma R&D leaders, biotechs and technology innovators attend.
A format that moves: What makes it unusual is the format. Rather than a single stage, the program runs 90+ clinical trial technology companies through short, fast presentations across four parallel tracks, then puts pharma sponsors on stage to share what they tried and what they learned.
Pharma from the trenches: Merck, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, Takeda, Amgen, AbbVie, Bayer, CSL and Daiichi Sankyo all present from the trenches this year.
DPHARM Idol Disrupt: DPHARM Idol Disrupt closes day one, now in its fifteenth year, with a judging panel drawn from sponsors and patient advocates.
Come a day early: An add-on pre-conference day on Partnerships with Sites runs on September 14.
Why Meet with DS2?
Somebody has to build the kit, get it to the patient, get the sample back before it degrades and prove every step of it afterwards. That is our job. DS2 handles the physical and documentary layer under a trial so sponsors, sites and labs can concentrate on the protocol. What we do:
- Diagnostic and specimen collection kit design, assembly and fulfillment
- Kit-to-patient and direct-to-patient distribution
- Medical courier services, including STAT and next-flight-out specimen transport
- Cold chain and temperature-controlled logistics, with the documentation to prove the range held
- Biostorage and biorepository services
- Mobile phlebotomy and specimen collection
- LIS, LIMS and EMR integration, including HL7 and FHIR
- Chain of custody and compliance documentation
If your protocol has moved collection into the community or the home, that's the conversation we're most looking forward to having in Boston.
Some of Who Is Speaking
A selection from a faculty of several hundred:
Gunnar Esiason
Raven, RA Capital
VP Strategy, Patient Strategy & Innovation, giving the patient keynote
Janelle A. Sabo, PharmD
Eli Lilly and Company
SVP, Clinical Capabilities
Karim Mikhail, BPharm, MSc
CBER, FDA
Acting Director, in the FDA keynote fireside
John Volanthen
Record-holding British cave diver
On leadership and teamwork from the Thai cave rescue
Kenneth Getz, MBA
Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
Executive Director and Professor
Peyton Howell, MHA
Parexel
CEO, moderating the workforce panel
Bari Kowal
Regeneron
SVP, Development Operations, Portfolio Management
David Carruthers
AstraZeneca
VP, Head of Global Clinical Operations, Biopharmaceuticals R&D
Jennifer Sheller, MPH
Merck
SVP, Head of Global Clinical Trial Operations
Stacy Hurt, MHA, MBA
Parexel
Chief Patient Officer
The full faculty and track listings are on the official DPHARM site.
The Agenda at a Glance
DPHARM runs two full days with parallel tracks through the middle of each. Track-level detail, including every presentation title and speaker, sits in the official agenda. The shape of it:
Day One · Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Registration and morning coffee
Patient keynote
Gunnar Esiason, RA Capital, moderated by Stacy Hurt, Parexel
Senior leadership keynote: From Discovery to Breakthrough Medicine
Janelle A. Sabo, PharmD, Eli Lilly and Company
Senior leadership panel: Doing More with Less
BMS, Regeneron, Teva, Novo Nordisk, Bayer and Eli Lilly
Disruptive innovation keynote: lessons from the Thai cave rescue
John Volanthen
Grand opening of the DPHARM exhibit hall
FDA keynote fireside
Karim Mikhail, Acting Director, CBER, FDA
Innovative sources and solutions, four parallel tracks
Patient-centric services · Digital tech · Automation · The future of trials
Networking luncheon and facilitated roundtables
Pharma reporting on innovation from the trenches, five tracks
Merck, Vertex, Bayer, Novartis, J&J, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, AbbVie, Amgen and others
Pharma and solution provider collaborations
Senior leadership panel: Solving for the US patient enrollment crisis
DPHARM Idol Disrupt 2026
Grand reception, supporting Ronald McDonald House New England
Day Two · Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Tufts CSDD breakfast session: Celebrating 50 Years of Impact
Kenneth Getz, Jennifer Kim and Mary Jo Lamberti, Tufts CSDD
Welcome and DPHARM Idol winner announcement
Senior leadership panel: Building a Future-Ready Clinical Operations Workforce
Moderated by Peyton Howell, CEO, Parexel
Keynote: Change Management, why innovation adoption takes years
Kenneth Getz, Tufts CSDD
Panel: Navigating Future-Forward Drug Development
Morning Zeitgeist, three track choices plus a Pfizer-led workshop
Today Show at DPHARM
Networking luncheon and facilitated roundtables
Simultaneous tracks and roundtables
DPHARM 2026 concludes
DPHARM 2026 FAQ
General
Fees & registration
Venue & travel
See You in Boston
Two days at the Sheraton Boston, September 15 and 16. Say what you would like to get into and we will hold a slot.