At PMG, excellence is our minimum standard. We want to get better every year and make our clients better, so innovation is a specific goal for all our staff. We ask each staff member for at least one example of an innovative new idea, or program, or service, or a new and better way of doing our work that they have implemented, as a part of their performance evaluation each year. I am consistently amazed not just by the innovation of our staff, but also of the organizations we manage.
One area I think is unique about PMG and its management of societies, is that we encourage our boards in strategic planning to think outside the norm for ways to grow the society and make an impact in their field. We challenge them to think about opportunities for new growth in revenue streams that can help them in achieving their mission as well as opportunities for public outreach and education. Below are a few stellar examples.
The American Board of Pediatric Dentistry (ABPD) vision is to inspire pediatric dentists to provide high quality oral health care to all children and maximize patient outcomes through continuous participation in the certification process. To achieve this, ABPD developed an annual renewal of certification program to include online, self-paced continuing education content in course and examination formats with accessibility as a key component of the program. Consequently, in 2009 ABPD contracted Informatics, a web agency based out Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to develop a website, database and online module to support the process for ABPD Diplomates to login and complete their annual renewal requirement to maintain their certification. The software has been such a success that ABPD and Informatics elected to form a partnership in 2017 to market the software to other dental and medical boards with similar continued competency programs. ABPD established a subsidiary, Competency Based Pediatric Dentistry (CBPD) in 2016 to enter into a joint venture partnership with Informatics, founding ROC-P, LLC. The profits from the ROC-P, LLC partnership will further fund grants to support ABPD’s strategic mission to maximize patient outcomes for children worldwide.
The Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) was founded in 2005 and is dedicated to facilitating international collaborations to discover the causes of, and better treatments for, schizophrenia and related disorders. SIRS began holding biennial conferences in Italy in 2008. This meeting has grown over the past 10 years from 800 attendees to almost 2000. Beginning in 2019, SIRS will continue their mission by holding an annual conference. After much consideration from leaders in the society and field, SIRS has merged with the International Congress of Schizophrenia Research and will continue having their conference in Florence in 2018 and 2020 while beginning to hold a meeting in North America in 2019, 2021 and beyond. This exciting addition for the Society further solidifies their goal of supporting increased research understanding for schizophrenia research around the world while bringing together the field to work toward its mission.
The International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) was founded in 1992 and holds the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG) annually. The society is committed to worldwide collaboration of professionals with the interest in the field of psychiatric genetics. In 2012, the ISPG established the Genetic Testing Committee with the goal of writing the first recommendation on genetic testing for psychiatric disorders. The Genetic Testing Committee drafted and released the first formal evidence-based recommendation for genetic testing in 2013 offering guidance to medical professionals and the general public. This committee continues to research the ongoing development and updates the genetic testing statement annually. Additionally, they are working to develop curriculum for medical students which provides guidance on genetic testing.
This blog concludes this ‘series of good’ that PMG’s family of organizations is achieving. As I look back, I am proud that I can say we are accomplishing our simple mission of helping each of our clients achieve their mission. There is always more work to be done and we plan to do that in 2018. A number of projects are well underway and I look forward to reporting them to you this time next year!
