Connecting Medical Regulators Around the World

As COVID-19 continues to affect our world and our work, IAMRA is looking to bring you opportunities to connect with one another through networking and sharing of best practice. 

This year, we will be hosting a series of webinars with topics such as telehealth and the duty of candor. Our first webinar in late March/early April, will be on Misinformation and challenges to the independence of medical regulation. We will share more details with you shortly.

While we really hoped to be able to have an in-person event this year, COVID-related challenges remain, and we will, instead, present a virtual symposium later in the year. We are convening a planning working group for this event and will be sharing more information in the coming weeks and months. The symposium, addressing a single theme, will offer a shorter program than IAMRA’s conferences, and will be a free event.

It’s been so long since we have been able to meet together, and we really hope to offer an in-person Conference towards the end of 2023. We will provide more details as we are able.

In late 2021, IAMRA had two important papers accepted for publication. IAMRA’s Executive Director, Dr. Alison Reid and IAMRA Research Working Group members Dr. Kgosietsile Letlape (Chair), Dr. Ian Liestikow, Dr. Miguel Paniagua, and Dr. Pascal Udekwu wrote an article based on IAMRA’s Statement on Regulation During a Serious Event Such as a Disaster, Epidemic, Pandemic, entitled Expecting the Unexpected: How Regulators Can Prepare for Serious Events, published in the Journal of Medical Regulation. Dr. Reid, Mr. Mark Staz and IAMRA Secretary, Dr. Humayun Chaudhry wrote an article entitled Regulatory Authorities and Continuing Education Around the World: Adapting to COVID-19, published in the Journal of European CME.

I want to let you know that IAMRA’s Board of Directors will be meeting over the course of the next couple of weeks to develop a business plan for 2022. This will be followed by a more wide-ranging Strategic Planning Meeting that will take place either later this year or early next year, and as always, reports on these meetings will be provided to the membership.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge the fine work that all of you are doing in these uneasy times. Even in the best of times, the work that we do can be challenging and demanding. I hope that by supporting and connecting with each other, albeit virtually, our shared commitment to robust regulation will see us through, and that we will find the energy and determination to develop new and innovative ways to deliver regulation that is fit for the ‘new normal’.

Thank you and stay well,

Dr. Heidi Oetter
Chair of IAMRA