Workshop Overview

The Fisher/Shafer NONMEM Workshop covers NONMEM, data handling, model building, and model diagnostics. The workshop includes an extensive set of example problems ranging from simple didactic examples to demonstrate basic concepts to complex examples from the instructor's own experience. Registrants are provided with a comprehensive set of graphical tools programmed in the R and S Plus statistical languages to create high-quality diagnostic and analysis plots.

For several years the course has offered registrants scripts in the R programming language to create high quality graphs of the NONMEM output, including a variety of diagnostic plots. The course has also offered registrants Windows scripts to organize NONMEM analyses and provide auditability.

While those tools are still part of the Fisher / Shafer NONMEM Workshop distribution, we are pleased to offer workshop participants the far more powerful PLT Tools software suite. PLT Tools provides a graphical interface for controlling and organizing NONMEM analyses, including comprehensive auditability. It also represents the next generation of NONMEM graphical software. The PLT Tools graphics suite extends the basic R (or S-Plus) graphics scripts developed for our own consulting, as well as for the Fisher / Shafer NONMEM Workshop. The suite provides a GUI that gives the control over most details of the graphics, eliminating the need to write R code to produce high quality NONMEM output. The fully functional PLT Tools is freely available for download. PLT Tools is introduced during the NONMEM Workshop. A special Sunday afternoon workshop is devoted to PLT Tools for users interested in incorporating it into their NONMEM projects. PLT Tools runs on Windows (XP and Vista), Mac OSX, and Linux.

The distinguishing characteristic of the Fisher / Shafer NONMEM Workshop is that each individual brings his or her laptop computer. A copy of NONMEM, the GNU Fortran Compiler, the Windows and UNIX scripts, PLT Tools, the full set of examples, and R are all provided to the users on a USB drive (flash drive). NONMEM is removed at the end of the course if the user is not a properly licensed registered NONMEM user, but the other software is in the public domain, including the graphic scripts developed by Drs. Fisher and Shafer for the course, and may be kept after the course. The registrant follows along with the instructors, testing examples on his or her laptop as the instructor works through the concepts.

The workshop runs from Wednesday morning until Saturday noon. Each day (except Saturday) includes 6 hours of instruction, ending at approximately 3 pm. From 3 pm until 5 pm, registrants work on either the example problems, or on a data set of the registrant's choosing (frequently a difficult problem from work).

The course is intended for individuals at the intermediate level. Those without substantial NONMEM experience are urged to sign up for the beginner's workshop described below. This should be adequate preparation to allow the novice to follow the main workshop.

Because NONMEM is such a flexible tool, experienced NONMEM users have found the NONMEM Workshop valuable. In part, this is because the course instructors bring their unique perspectives to the application of NONMEM to data analysis. It is also because of the breadth of examples provided.
Experienced users will find the introduction to NONMEM on Tuesday afternoon too basic. However, all participants may find the R workshop on Tusday morning and afternoon to be useful. This is the first time we have spent an entire day on R, reflecting the desire of previous course participants for more instruction on this important tool.


Tuesday Half-Day Courses

Introduction to R: Basic Data Manipulation
Tuesday, 8 am - noon
The morning R course covers basic data manipulation using the R statistical programming language. The participant will learn how to read files, parse data, manipulate times and dates, perform error checking, and merge multiple files. The goal is to provide an introduction into the R commands that are typically used to create a NONMEM data set. The use of R to create graphics and statistics is NOT covered in the morning course.

Introduction to R: Advanced Data Manipulation, Statistics, and Graphics
Tuesday, 1 pm - 4 pm
The afternoon R course covers starts where the morning course ends. It is assumed that the participant has basic knowledge about the structure of an R script. This course introduces the elements required to make graphs with R. The focus is on simple X-Y plots, labeling plots and axes, controlling point and line types, and arranging graphs on the page. Basic statistics with R will also be introduced. By the end of the course, the participant will have been introduced to the R commands that are needed to produce straightforward graphs with R and perform basic statistical analyses.

Introduction to NONMEM
Tuesday 1 pm - 5 pm
For those with no prior experience with NONMEM, we will provide a half day session on the Wednesday afternoon before the course to prepare you for the Intermediate course described above. Registrants will be taught the basics of using the NONMEM system to analyze data, including the structure of a control stream and data file, and the basic mechanics of running NONMEM.


Saturday Afternoon Course

Introduction to PLT Tools
Saturday 1 pm - 4 pm
As described above, PLT Tools software suite is an extension of the R (S-Plus) tools developed by Dennis Fisher over nearly two decades of working with NONMEM, and refined for the Fisher/Shafer NONMEM Workshop as a general purpose NONMEM graphics program. It is distributed to course participants, and introduced in the NONMEM workshop on Friday and Saturday. The tool takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to NONMEM analysis, graphics, and auditability. There is not enough time during the workshop to teach registrants all the features of PLT Tools. This Sunday afternoon course is provided for individuals interested in incorporating PLT Tools into their own work. The unlicensed version of PLT Tools is fully functional, except for the ability to place a company name on the output. Replacing "unlicensed version" with the name of your company requires the licensed version of the software.

Course fee

•  New registrants: $2250
•  Registrants from previous courses: $1125
•  Tuesday workshops: $400 each, however registration for the morning and afternoon R workshops together will be $650 total.
•  Saturday afternoon workshop: $500 ($250 of which can be applied to the purchase of a licensed
   version of PLT Tools within three months of the course)

The registration fee includes coffee breaks each morning and afternoon. These food items are valued at approximately $250. A discount will be available to companies or institutions sending 2 or more individuals.

Payment
Do not submit payment until your application has been approved. Once you have been accepted into the course, a check or money order (in US dollars), payable to NONMEM Workshop, should be mailed the P Less Than Company. Bank transfers can also be arranged. There is an additional fee of $20 if payment is made via bank transfer. Payment can also be made by credit card. Credit card payments incur a 3% processing fee. If you wish to arrange payment via bank transfer or credit card, please contact us for details..

Academic and government discount
A limited number of discounts are available for students or faculty at academic institutions, or government employees. Please contact us for details at nonmem@plessthan.com. Discounted positions are usually fully subscribed within the first few weeks of the course announcement, so interested individuals should apply promptly.