R/Medicine 2025: Opening Remarks by Emily Zabor
Welcome to R/Medicine 2025! With the conference officially underway, attendees are in for an exciting lineup of sessions and discussions over the coming days.
The opening remarks were delivered by Emily Zabor, an Associate Staff Biostatistician at the Cleveland Clinic and an enthusiastic R user. Her roles span from the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences to the Taussig Cancer Institute and an academic appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. With a strong background in early phase clinical trial design, statistical methods for observational studies, prediction models, and survival analysis, Emily brings a wealth of expertise to her role as Chair of the organizing committee for this year’s conference.
Gratitude and Recognition
Emily expressed heartfelt gratitude to the R Consortium for hosting the R/Medicine 2025 conference. The R Consortium continues to play a crucial role in supporting the R community with events, webinars, and support for various R groups, including R-Ladies. Their efforts not only facilitate the current conference but also bolster the R ecosystem throughout the year.
A special thanks was also extended to financial sponsors, Genentech and Posit, whose generous contributions have kept registration fees relatively low, enabling the inclusion of workshops and demos at a flat rate. Scholarships based on financial need are also made possible by these sponsors, ensuring a diverse set of participants can join the conference.
The organizing committee, chaired by Emily herself, received commendations for their dedication and creativity in bringing the conference to life. Some members have been involved since the conference’s inception in 2018, showcasing their commitment and knowledge. Attendees are encouraged to thank them for their efforts.
A Global and Accessible Gathering
R/Medicine 2025 continues its tradition of being a global and accessible event, running virtually to accommodate participants from around the world. This format, adopted during the pandemic, has allowed the conference to reach a diverse international audience. With greetings extended from Emily to all time zones, the virtual format enables knowledge sharing and networking across borders.
Conference Overview and Highlights
The conference kicked off with three days of engaging workshops, demos, and panels. These days were structured into two tracks, making it impossible to attend every session. However, participants can look forward to accessing video recordings on the R Consortium’s YouTube channel after the conference concludes. This provides a great opportunity to revisit sessions or catch those that were missed.
Workshop highlights included:
- Introduction to R workshops in both English and Spanish
- R package development with GitHub pages and package down
- Survival analysis with tidy models
- Data visualization using parameterization
- Reproducibility with Ricks and Nix
- Personal R administration
- LLMs using Elmer
- Teal Mastery
The structure also featured panels of R educators and sessions focused on reproducibility and more.
Looking Forward
Opening the first day is a keynote by Zead Obermeyer, focusing on “Reinventing Medicine with AI.” The day will continue with 9 regular talks and 2 lightning talks covering topics such as reproducibility, compliance, workflow automation, and clinical and epidemiological applications.
Attendees will also hear from winners of the data analysis competition on measles vaccination and case rates in 2025 in both professional and student categories.
Participants are encouraged to engage actively in the conference by joining Zoom sessions, participating in the chat, asking questions, and connecting with fellow attendees. Before the keynote kicks off, attendees were invited to introduce themselves in the chat and share their locations, fostering a sense of community.
Stay Tuned
In addition to the conference, R/Medicine hosts mid-year webinars, and participants are encouraged to keep an eye out for these events. The webinars focus on topics such as reproducible data science environments with Nix and containerization in R. For more information on webinars, attendees can visit the R Consortium’s website.
With an exciting program ahead, the R/Medicine 2025 conference promises to be a dynamic and enriching experience for the R community. Enjoy the conference, engage with peers, and make the most of the sessions and opportunities to learn and connect.