Reed Medical Reels in Mass General
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 10/1/2007
Reed Exhibitions and Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Academy have made a 25-year agreement to co-produce the Boston health care facility's extensive series of continuing medical education programs.
According to the agreement, Reed Medical Education will handle audience development, marketing and logistics, while Mass General will identify the educational needs of the psychiatry community and develop content based on those needs.
The hospital's multi-platform CME program consists of 24 live symposia, 12 broadcasts and Web casts, and 22 online expert forums, as well as tuition courses.
Dr. Robert J. Birnbaum, executive director of postgraduate medical education at MGH, said the Psychiatry Academy has been improving its education and communication for a few years.
"The name of the game, in terms of what we're doing, was integration of different channels of education," he said. "Reed was exactly on the same page, looking at how to leverage information in the tradeshow industry."
Birnbaum explained the Academy's model is to present unbiased information through live symposia, held around the United States. Presentations are interactive, so data collected at them can be immediately incorporated. Web simulcasts of roundtable discussions offer presentations to Academy members who can't attend live events. Expert online forums, where conversations can be continued more in-depth, follow presentations.
"With Reed, we'll do the live events, expert forums and the Web simulcasts," Birnbaum said.
Revenue will come from memberships, sponsorships and educational grants.
Birnbaum said the Academy had been working with Marie Browne, responsible for new business development at Reed Medical Education. As a result of the contract, Browne received a promotion to vice president of the MGH Psychiatry Academy for RME, according to Reed spokeswoman Beth Blake.
Asked how she managed to land such a long-term deal, Browne said, "They were looking for a long-term partner, so we went out with that length of proposal, and they went for it."
It fit perfectly with Reed's three-year-old strategy for beefing up its health care portfolio, she added.
