International Briefs

Abstract

The International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) will host two meetings of interest to medical regulators in October 2021. The announced events include: 2021 IAMRA Virtual Conference, to be held October 12–14, 2021. The conference will be titled “Supporting a Workforce Under Pressure — the Regulator’s Role.”2021 IAMRA Members General Assembly, to be held October 26, 2021.More information will be released in coming weeks by IAMRA.IAMRA also announced that its 2022 Conference on International Medical Regulation will be held November 14–17, 2022, in Johannesburg, South Africa. IAMRA’s 2022 Members General Assembly will take place during the Conference, on November 16, 2022. More information on both of the 2022 events will be available later this year.Source: IAMRA website announcements, February 8, 2021A recording of IAMRA’s webinar titled “Physician Health and Wellness” is now available at the IAMRA website.With physician health and wellness an ongoing issue, exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, IAMRA offered the webinar to the regulatory community in order to take “a closer look at the current situation and what we can do as medical regulators and as part of the wider health care community to support physicians and health care workers.”Chaired by Humayun Chaudhry, DO, MACP, President and CEO of the FSMB, panelists included Dr. Jeancarlo Fernandes Cavalcante of the Department for International Affairs at the Brazilian Federal Medical Council, and Professor Solomon Rataemane, Chair of the Medical and Dental Board, Health Professions Council of South Africa. Closing comments were made by Dr. Kgosietsile Letlape, Chair of IAMRA.Another IAMRA webinar, titled “The Challenge of Humanizing Medical Regulation in a Post COVID World,” will be available for viewing online at the end of April. The webinar will be chaired by Martin Fletcher, CEO of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and a member of the IAMRA Management Committee. Lead speaker will be Anna Van Der Gaag, former Chair of the Health and Care Professions Council (UK). Van Der Gaag will speak on “kindness in regulation”— what it means and why it is important — and the growth of “relational regulation.” Other panelists will include Susan Biggar, National Engagement Advisor for Ahpra, and Dr. Heidi Oetter, Registrar of the College of Physician and Surgeons of British Columbia and Chair-elect of IAMRA.For more information about the webinars or IAMRA, please visit www.iamra.com or contact the IAMRA Secretariat at secretariat@iamra.com.Source: IAMRA website and email announcements, March 2021.The Irish Medical Council has appointed Leo Kearns as its new Chief Executive Officer.Kearns joins the Medical Council from Vhi Health and Wellbeing DAC, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Kearns was Chief Executive of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) from 2006 to 2018 and served as the National Lead for Transformation and Change for the Health Service Executive (HSE) from 2013 to 2015.The vacancy at the Medical Council arose following the resignation of Bill Prasifka in 2020, who subsequently became Executive Director of the Medical Board of California in the United States. Prasifka had served as the Council’s CEO for four years.Source: Irish Medical Council news release, January 21, 2021