Atorus’ Year in Review
2025 was a decisive year for clinical data analytics, and Atorus was at the center of the conversation. Our team took the stage at major industry conferences worldwide, sharing innovations that are reshaping how the pharmaceutical industry approaches data, validation, and regulatory compliance.
The numbers help tell the story: 18 presentations across 8 conferences, delivered by 15 subject matter experts (SMEs) spanning statistical programming, data science, software engineering, and regulatory compliance. From Hamburg, Germany, to San Diego, California, our experts demonstrated why multilingual, open-source solutions are no longer optional; they’re essential.
Here’s what we shared with the industry this year.
The SAS®-to-R Transition
The shift from proprietary to open-source tools is still one of the most daunting challenges facing statistical programming teams. Our presentations provided practical road maps for organizations making this transition without sacrificing regulatory rigor.
At PharmaSUG in San Diego, Danielle Stephenson and Laura Mino presented Code Switching, drawing parallels between learning human languages and programming languages. Their session offered concrete techniques to help SAS programmers develop multilingual fluency. This is a critical skill as the industry embraces R programming alongside legacy systems.
Steve Nicholas took a different angle at the CDISC Interchange in Nashville with his presentation on Integrated Summaries of Safety (ISS). His case study demonstrated how open-source tools like {oak} and {admiral} can automate traditional manual workflows, replacing repetitive data harmonization and pooling tasks with standardized, reproducible code while maintaining quality standards.
At R/Pharma, Eli Miller and Mike Stackhouse led a hands-on workshop on datasetjson, a format that’s solving real interoperability challenges for teams who are working across R and Python. Their work addresses a fundamental problem: seamless data sharing across platforms without loss of structure or compliance.
The Validation Challenge
Package validation remains the biggest barrier to open-source adoption in regulated environments. Our team delivered comprehensive strategies for quantifying and mitigating risk.
Arianna Cascone and Chelsea Dickens presented groundbreaking research at PHUSE US Connect in Orlando on hybrid risk assessment approaches. Their work demonstrates why combining programmatic metrics (like {riskmetric}) with human expertise results in more robust validation than either approach alone. This is a principle that’s now shaping industry standards.
Read the full analysis: R Package Risk Assessment: Why a Hybrid Approach Is the Future of Package Validation
They also highlighted how documentation quality serves as both a safety feature and a feedback mechanism for package improvement, an insight that’s changing how organizations evaluate open-source tools.
Frank Menius addressed the human side of this transition also at PHUSE US Connect in Orlando, sharing essential skills statistical programmers need to remain resilient as the industry decentralizes data and embraces open-source disruption.
Innovation in Clinical Data Analytics: From Shiny to AI
Our team also showcased cutting-edge applications transforming how clinical trial data is visualized, reviewed, and analyzed.
Jon Harmon introduced {gsm.app} at the Appsilon Shiny Conference, showing how this open-source tool simplifies the creation of dynamic Shiny applications for risk-based quality monitoring (RBQM). The presentation showed how thoughtful tool design can make complex quality monitoring accessible to broader teams.
At posit::conf in Atlanta, Casey Aguilar-Gervase and Maya Gans applied principles from Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things to Shiny app development. Their presentation made a compelling case: good design is a functional necessity for clinical tools that need to serve diverse user bases under pressure.
Laura Maxwell pushed boundaries further at useR! 2025 in Durham, unveiling an AI/ML framework for detecting unreported adverse events using R. By combining standard RBQM methodologies with advanced anomaly detection, her work demonstrates how artificial intelligence can enhance (not replace!) human safety monitoring.
Mike Stackhouse introduced {clinify} at PHUSE US Connect, a package that streamlines submission-ready table creation by enhancing functionalities from {flextable} and {officer}.
Read more: clinify: Simplify Submission-Ready Table Creation in R
Infrastructure That Scales: Validated Pipelines and Platforms
For open-source innovation to scale across large organizations, it needs compliant, robust infrastructure.
Casey Higgins and Eli Miller presented Ageirein at PHUSE US Connect. Ageirein is the multilingual platform providing centralized, GxP-compliant storage and clinical data analytics capabilities out of the box. Their presentation addressed a critical pain point: how do you maintain validation and compliance while giving teams the flexibility they need to innovate?
Explore the blog: Say Goodbye to Silos: Why the Future of Open-Source Data Analytics in Life Sciences Starts With Ageirein
At the EARL Conference in Brighton, Mark Sellors tackled workflow execution tools for creating validated data pipelines. His presentation demonstrated how data scientists can handle growing datasets while maintaining the validation required in heavily regulated pharma environments. His work shows that rigor and reproducibility aren’t obstacles to speed. Rather, they’re enablers when architected correctly.
The Next Generation of Leaders
Technical excellence alone doesn’t drive industry transformation; leadership does.
Steve Nicholas presented at PharmaSUG in San Diego with a reflective session on the journey from intern to leader. His presentation focused on the often-overlooked soft skills that distinguish technical experts from effective leaders: building trust, maintaining accountability, and recognizing that leadership is fundamentally about human connection, not just technical proficiency.
Looking Ahead
These 18 presentations represent blueprints for the future of clinical data analytics. They demonstrate how open-source solutions, when properly validated and implemented, can accelerate innovation without compromising the regulatory rigor our industry demands.
As we move into 2026, Atorus is continuing to bridge the gap between cutting-edge open-source frameworks and the compliant, scalable solutions life sciences organizations demand.
Connect With Us
We’ll be presenting at conferences throughout 2026. Check out our upcoming events to see where we’ll be next and reach out if you’d like to connect with our team at an upcoming conference.
The future of clinical data analytics is multilingual, validated, and open. We’re here to help you navigate it.