Erin Schwarz, CEO/Principal Consultant
Erin is the Founder and CEO/Principal Consultant of Vivacity Consulting. During her career, Erin has consistently worked to improve medical education programs, meet ACCME compliance, and facilitate the development of CME leadership and champions.
Prior to founding Vivacity Consulting, she worked with the prestigious association management firm, BSC Management. She served as Executive Director of the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group from 1999-2003, and as Executive Director of both the American Head & Neck Society (AHNS) and the Association for Academic Surgery from 2003-2006. Erin also served as the CME Manager for SAGES from 1999-2006.
Since 2006, Erin has provided consulting services to the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), AHNS and other large associations, hospitals healthcare systems, and medical education companies. In this role, she has provided leadership for multiple ACCME reaccreditation efforts, including the reaccreditation with commendation of Hippo Education and Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Erin has shared her knowledge and expertise at the local and national level since 2003 (see below). She has also contributed to publications in peer reviewed education and surgery journals.
Erin is currently the Chair of the Almanac Editorial Board and a member of the Alliance for CE in the Health Professions and the Southern California Medical Education Council (SCMEC).
Ms. Schwarz won the Alliance’s Almanac Author of the Year award in 2019.
See client list for descriptions of recent work.
PRESENTATIONS (abbreviated list):
Alliance for CEhp
Presentation: “Disclosure Dilemmas 2022: Are your skills up to the task?” January 2022
Presentation: The Logistics Roadmap: “Utilizing Local Communities of Practice for Better CME Program Management,” January 2020
Presentation: “Hitting Overall Program Targets with the C-Suite and Other Stakeholders,” January 2017
Presentation: “Shades of Gray: Drawing the Line on Employees of Commercial Interests,” January 2016
Presentation: “My Crummy Story: How I Got Out of a Bad Situation and How You Can Too,” January 2016
Presentation: “Mapping Success for the Learner, the Supporter, and the Organization” January 2015
Research Presentation: “A Comprehensive Process for Identifying and Managing Conflicts of Interest Reduced Perceived Bias at a Specialty Society Annual Meeting,” January 2015
ACCME Annual Meeting
Presentation: “Commendation Conundrums: How to Approach Accreditation with Commendation Strategically,” April 2022
Presentation: “Implementing ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence,” April 2022
Lightning Talk and Poster: “The Effectiveness of SAGES ADOPT Program – 5 Year Review,” April 2022 https://www.accmemeeting.org/page/2124433/poster-3
Southern California Medical Education Council
Annual Conference Presentation: “Navigating the Standards for Integrity and Independence – Pitfall’s I’ve Seen,” August 2022
Special SCMEC Webinar: ACCME Updates to the Standards for Commercial Support, February 2020
Presentation: “Best Practices for a CME Committee,” October 2014
PUBLICATIONS:
“SAGES Reimagining Education & Learning (REAL) project,” Dort, J, Paige, J, Qureshi, A, Schwarz, E, Tsuda, S, Surg Endo (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-022-09042-y
“At‑home hands‑on surgical training during COVID19: proof of concept using a virtual telementoring platform,” Greenberg, J, Schwarz, E, Paige, J, Dort, J, Bachman, S, Surg Endo (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-021-08470-6
“Developing minimally invasive procedure quality metrics: one step at a time.” Aloia, T.A., Jackson, T., Ghaferi, A. et al. Surg Endosc (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-019-06661-w
“SAGE(S) advice: application of a standardized train the trainer model for faculty involved in a Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) hands-on course.” Wyles, S.M., Schwarz, E., Dort, J. et al. Surg Endosc (2017) 31: 2017. doi:10.1007/s00464-017-5463-7
“Appropriate Uses of Commercial-Interest Employees in Accredited Medical Education.” publication date Jul 19, 2016, Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions Almanac
“Hands-On 2.0: Improving Transfer of Training via the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Acquisition of Data for Outcomes and Procedure Transfer.” Dort, J., Trickey, A., Paige, J. et al. Surg Endosc (2016). doi:10.1007/s00464-016-5366-z
“Ongoing evolution of practice gaps in gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery: 2014 report from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Continuing Education Committee.” McLemore EC, Paige JT, Bergman S, Hori Y, Schwarz E, Farrell TM. Surg Endosc. 2015 Sep 3. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26335080Â
“A comprehensive process for disclosing and managing conflicts of interest on perceived bias at the SAGES annual meeting,” Steven C. Stain, Erin Schwarz, Phillip P. Shadduck, Paresh C. Shah, Sharona B. Ross, Yumi Hori, Patricia Sylla, Surgical Endoscopy, May 2014.
Evolution of practice gaps in gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery: 2012 report from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Continuing Education Committee, John T. Paige, Timothy M. Farrell, Simon Bergman, Niazy Selim, Alan E. Harzman, Erin Schwarz, Yumi Hori, Jason Levine, Daniel J. Scott, Surgical Endoscopy, December 2013, Volume 27, Issue 12, pp 4429-4438.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00464-013-3263-2
Practice gaps in gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery (2011): a report from the Society of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Continuing Education Committee, Timothy M. Farrell, Simon Bergman, Niazy Selim, John T. Paige, Alan E. Harzman, Erin Schwarz, Yumi Hori, Jason Levine, Daniel J. Scott, Surgical Endoscopy, December 2012, Volume 26, Issue 12, pp 3367-3381.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00464-012-2491-1
Jacob Coverstone, Consultant
Jacob is an educational engineer, association strategist, instructional designer, accreditation expert and health education advocate working in post-graduate education. Daily life involves instructional design, strategizing, and collaborating with other experts to produce outstanding educational activities and ensure regulatory compliance.
Jacob has expertise in the following areas:
- Instructional system and activity design;
- Online learning, implementation, LMS & CMS selection, administrative infrastructure;
- Assessment and Evaluations: includes Needs Assessments, Outcomes evaluations, analysis of proposed policies, legislative and management initiatives;
- Creation of training manuals:
- Organizational & department assessment and improvement plans.
HONORS & AWARDS:
2012: Great Ideas Award from the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education (ACME), for creating an online resource library for CME professionals.
2013: ACEhp President’s Award, for work on industry and provider interactions
2014: Fellow of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions.
2015: ACEhp President’s Award, Recognition of outstanding efforts engaging membership, allied health professionals, and government organizations in furthering the strategic plan of the Alliance