Advisors
Jacqueline N. Parochka, EdD
Jacqueline N. Parochka, EdD, is currently President and CEO of Excellence in Continuing Education, Ltd. in Gurnee, Illinois and Partner, PTR Educational Consultants, LLC. She was previously Vice President, Director of Education, Division of Continuing Medical Education at Discovery International in Chicago, Illinois from 1992-2004. She served as Executive Director of the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science in Chicago from 1986-1992. Prior to that, she was Director of Continuing Education for the University of Illinois, Office of Vice Chancellor of Health Affairs-Chicago and College of Medicine-Rockford from 1975-1986.
Dr. Parochka has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education, is Past-President of the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, Illinois Alliance for Continuing Medical Education, and Honorary Founding Member and Past President of the National Association of Medical Education Companies.
She has provided long time service to the editorial board of The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions. In the past, she also served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Allied Health and the Almanac of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education. Dr. Parochka has served as site surveyor for both the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and Illinois State Medical Society and as a reviewer for the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education. She has authored numerous journal articles and conducted several workshops.
When CME providers use an external independent peer-review process to ensure ACCME's content validation statements, physician participants can count on increased content credibility.
- JACQUELINE N. PAROCHKA, EdD
Richard F. Tischler, Jr., PhD, FACME
Rich Tischler is Founder, President, and CEO of Viator Medical Communications, Inc., a CME consulting firm. As a consultant specializing in accreditation, administration, and regulation, Dr. Tischler has provided counsel to more than 100 organizations since January 1997. Dr. Tischler is also a founding partner of PTR Educational Consultants, LLC, which was incorporated in 2006. He was Director of Accreditation Services for the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and has served as Director of CME for a number of medical education companies. He is a founder and former Officer of NAMEC, the National Association of Medical Education Companies.
Dr. Tischler has served on or chaired several committees that are part of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education and is a Fellow of the Alliance. Dr. Tischler received his PhD from the University of Virginia in Higher Education Administration. He also has a BA in English from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in English from Bowling Green State University.
Regulatory scrutiny has now focused on the quality of content in continuing medical education. Issues of scientific rigor, balance in presentations, and freedom from commercial bias are now in the forefront of the industry's consciousness-from the halls of Congress, to the various oversight agencies (federal, state, and independent), to the individual physician consumer. Any CME/CE provider that is not paying attention to the quality of its content runs a high level of risk, both to its status as a provider and to its viability as an enterprise. Providers must be able to document a valid, credible, and independent content review process.
- RICHARD F. TISCHLER, JR., PhD, FACME