CMEpalooza Fall is a 1-day event scheduled for Wednesday, October 21, that will feature a series of sessions relevant across the CME/CE spectrum. Broadcasts will stream live on the LIVE page of this website and be available for viewing shortly after their conclusion on the Archive page. There is no charge to view or participate in any of these sessions.
CMEPALOOZA FALL AGENDA
9 AM ET
Breakfast Session Sponsored by Med Learning Group
Session Topic and Panelists TBA
10 AM ET
Grant Anatomy 201: More Grant Proposal Dissection
Session Sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb and AcademicCME
A session so nice, we’re holding it twice. This will be a continuation, not a repeat, of our Grant Anatomy 101 session from CMEpalooza Fall 2025. There was so much information and so many questions to answer the first time around that the panelists ran out of time. They’re all back (almost all) to finish what they started.
CME/CE providers are constantly asking grant-related questions (Is our needs assessment too long or too short? How can we best share our experience in this disease state? Does anyone actually read pages 10-35 of the proposal?), mostly amongst themselves, and therefore rarely get satisfying answers. Supporters are limited in their ability to share internal preferences yet know that stronger proposals can provide more clarity and lead to supporting more impactful education. Wait a second—everyone benefits from better proposals? Sounds like it’s time to re-roll up our sleeves, get our hands dirty, and all get on the same page. In this panel session, the provider-side moderator will ask the tough questions, and the brave supporter-side panelists will share first their disclaimers, then their perspectives, likes and preferences, dislikes and pet peeves, and the elements that usually catch the attention of reviewers. If you ever plan to write another proposal, don’t miss this session!
Moderator
Mike LoPresti, Sr. Vice President, Educational Strategy, Vindico Medical Education
Panelists
Maria Deutsch MS, PharmD, RPh, Medical Education, Oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Priya Muley, Director, Medical Education, Gilead Sciences
Nishith Mehta, Associate Director, Grants and Sponsorships, Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.
Beth Brillinger, FACEHP, Associate Director, Immunology Grants, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine
11 AM ET
Treating the Moment vs. Transforming the Journey: Why Only Funding Treatment-Focused Education Is Failing Patients
What if the CME ecosystem at major medical conferences is not just incomplete, but structurally incapable of improving patient outcomes? Not because the science is wrong, or the faculty are uninspired, or the accreditation is inadequate, but because the strategy behind what gets funded has calcified around a single moment in the patient journey, leaving everything that comes before and after almost entirely unaddressed.
This session presents a systematic landscape analysis of accredited satellite symposia and Industry Expert Theater sessions across several major medical conferences. The data tells a consistent, uncomfortable story. Then it goes one step further: a direct comparison of the status quo educational strategy against a comprehensive, gap-closing integrated approach, with a frank assessment of where patient outcomes are most likely to improve and why.
Moderator
Maureen Doyle-Scharff, PhD, MBA, FACEHP, Founder and CEO, Change for Good, LLC
Panelists
Pam Wagner, CHCP, FACEHP, BCMAS, Chief Complexity Navigation Consultant, Listo Strategy, LLC
Ann C. Lichti, FACEHP
Noon ET
Lunch Session Sponsored by Daiichi Sankyo
Session Topic and Panelists TBA
1 PM ET
CME Time Machine: Whatever Happened to Our Biggest Ideas?
Session Sponsored by Healio CME
Bell bottoms came back. Fidget spinners disappeared. Pandemic sourdough had a surprisingly good run. And somewhere, someone is probably still trying to make the metaverse happen.
Trends are everywhere, and continuing medical education is no exception.
Over the past decade, CME professionals have watched new ideas arrive with enormous expectations. Gamification would transform engagement. Performance improvement CME would connect education directly to practice change. Virtual learning would expand access. Microlearning would solve our attention-span problem. Artificial intelligence might now change everything, or become the latest innovation that promises more than it delivers.
So, whatever happened to CME’s biggest ideas?
In this interactive journey through CME’s recent past, our panel will revisit the trends, technologies, and educational strategies that generated the most excitement. We will examine which became essential parts of modern education, which quietly faded away, and which evolved into something entirely different from what we originally imagined.
Moderator
David Mullins, CHCP, Vice President of Professional Education, Paradigm Medical Communications, LLC
Panelists
Amanda Jamrogiewicz, CHCP, Vice President, Educational Strategy & Strategic Partnerships, US HealthConnect Inc.
Additional panelists to be announced
2 PM ET
The Late Show Top 10 List for CME Professionals: Things We Wish We’d Known Earlier
What if experienced CME and CPD professionals could go back and share the lessons that would have made their careers a little easier, a little smarter, and a lot less stressful? Inspired by David Letterman’s iconic Top 10 List, this interactive panel counts down the Top 10 Things We Wish We’d Known Earlier in our CME careers. Each countdown item will spark candid conversation, personal stories, practical advice, and a few laughs as panelists reflect on the experiences that shaped their professional journeys.
From building meaningful relationships and navigating career transitions to leading teams, managing projects, understanding budgets, and embracing unexpected opportunities, the discussion will explore the lessons that rarely appear in job descriptions but often have the greatest impact on long-term success. Some lessons come from great mentors. Others come from hard-earned experience. All offer valuable insights for professionals seeking to grow, lead, and thrive in the evolving world of continuing education. Whether entering the profession, stepping into a new role, or looking back on years of experience, participants will leave with practical takeaways, fresh perspectives, and ideas they can apply immediately.
Panelists
Vanessa Gray, DHA, MHA, CHCP, CMP, Director, CME, Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences
Emily Tompkins Lewis, VP/Executive Director, Educational Strategy Development, Kaplan
Dustin Ensign, CHCP, Director, Medical Education, Research & Ext. Funding Team Lead, Boehringer Ingelheim
Debi Susalka, Vice President, Business Development, infograph-ed
Amy Edouard, MHA, MBA, CHCP, CME Program Manager, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
3 PM ET
Miles from the City but Minutes from Learning: The Power of CME in Rural America
What defines rural? How unique are the challenges in this setting? And why should we care? In this session, our panel of experts in rural health education will break down what it means to be a provider of CME in a rural environment and how the unique needs and challenges of this community can be addressed. Using first-person accounts of CME impact stories, we’ll share why we all enjoy the challenges of educating rural clinicians and why this audience should not be overlooked in our educational plans.
Moderator
Tariqa Ackbarali, PhD, MS, CHCP, President, Talem Health, LLC
Panelists
Additional panelists to be announced
4 PM ET
Ask Us Anything: Live Rewind
Session Sponsored by Pri-Med
Over the past year, Ask Us Anything has turned into a monthly recurring blog post where Derek and Scott field questions submitted from the CME/CE community and do our best to provide reasonable advice. Sometimes when the questions get really hard, we consult the opinions of experts in the field who are much smarter than us to help provide answers.
For the Ask Us Anything: Live Rewind session at CMEpalooza Fall, we will take a look back at some of these questions and review our responses in a live, talk show style format. What did we get wrong? What did we get right? What has changed since then? What does the audience think? Do we have any idea what we’re talking about?
While this will be the first session in the history of CMEpalooza that Scott and Derek will both participate in, we will also have a few guests dropping by to help us out along the way. The questions will focus on three main topics: Grants, Accredited CE, and CME/CE Community. Make sure you stick around for this last session of CMEpalooza Fall!
Hosts
Derek Warnick, Co-Producer, CMEpalooza
Scott Kober, Co-Producer, CMEpalooza
Guests
Riaz Baxamusa, CHCP, FACEHP, MBA, Senior Manager IME Grants and Sponsorships, Novartis
Annette Schwind, MS, CHCP, FACEHP, Former Associate Director, Medical Grants & Sponsorships, Takeda
Caitlyn Keenan, MS, LSSGB, CHCP, Associate Director, Accreditation, American Society of Addiction Medicine
Mindi Daiga, MBA, CHCP, FACEHP, Vice President, Accreditation, Pri-Med
CMEPALOOZA 