The NZ Forum annual scientific meeting was held from 3-5 September in Christchurch, New Zealand. A special thanks to our generous sponsors, the Maurice & Phyllis Paykel Trust and Douglas Pharmaceuticals, and to our student presentation judges.

We had a fantastic turnout and a great range of presentations, including symposia on “Drug Repurposing – making better use of existing medicines” (Murray Barclay, Carl Kirkpatrick, Paul Glue) and “Current Research in Pharmacology Education” (Paul Chin, Deanna Bell). Running with the drug repurposing theme, Dan Wright updated us on his work towards rational dosing of colchicine as this year’s ASCEPT speaker. 

Student talks were also outstanding, covering a variety of topics across experimental and clinical pharmacology and toxicology. Congratulations to our prize winners: Ellen Kingston (University of Auckland) received the Fred Fastier Prize for Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Liam Berryman (University of Otago, Christchurch) was awarded the Evan Begg Prize for Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology. As usual, there was plenty of engaging discussion about all the talks in the program.

We would also like to sincerely thank our outgoing Chair, Kathryn Burns, for her service and leadership, and welcome Jack Flanagan as the new Chair.
A massive thanks to everyone who attended for making the event so successful. It’s always a pleasure to catch up with colleagues in our wider research and teaching community, and we hope to see you all again next year!

Ngā mihi
The NZ Forum Committee