The International Medical Meeting Professionals Association has scheduled its third annual conference, to be held May 21-22, 2013, in Cleveland in conjunction with the opening of the Cleveland Medical Mart and Cleveland Convention Center.
According to IMMPA’s founder, Pat Schaumann, CMP, CSEP, DMCP, featured speakers will include Steven Nissen, MD, chairman of the Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. While Nissen can be a controversial figure in the continuing medical education community—in his testimony in 2009 before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, he called CME “an insidious vehicle for the aggressive promotion of drugs and medical devices”—IMMPA 2011-2012 president Scott Graham, president of Excellent Meetings, says that Nissen’s record as a “well-renowned and respected international speaker who remains one of pharma’s most highly sought-after consultants” and as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2007 make him a good choice for the IMMPA conference. “Dr. Nissen is a valuable addition to the conference agenda and we look forward to his comments,” says Graham.
Also on the agenda are David Peckinpaugh, president of Maritz; nationally known compliance attorney Donn Herring, senior partner with the law firm of Lathrop and Gage; and organizational researcher Stephanie Mooshegian, PhD. The program also includes a session on the healthcare professional certification program, which will be jointly presented by representatives from IMMPA and the Convention Industry Council, according to Graham. For those who can’t attend in person, IMMPA is negotiating with a restaurant chain to provide televised broadcasts of the sessions.
Schaumann also said in a statement that IMMPA “will be making a historic announcement early in the fall” about its progress in creating a certified healthcare meeting professional certification. Details about both the conference and the certification will be made available on the IMMPA Web site.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated since its original publication to include comments from IMMPA's president.
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