Elevate your CME Game: Insider Secrets from Kristen Dascoli to Transform Education Programs

Kristen Dascoli, a seasoned pro with experience on both the editorial and business development sides of CME, pulls back the curtain on the development of a pioneering program on gender-affirming HIV care.ELEVATE was a groundbreaking CME initiative that aimed to enhance healthcare providers' cultural competencies in delivering gender-affirming care to transgender and gender-diverse patients. From its pilot in January 2015 to its conclusion in the summer of 2019, ELEVATE conducted 26 trainings across 14 states, partnering with 9 chapters of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a county healthcare agency, and 13 health systems. The initiative reached nearly 1,500 healthcare professionals in primary care, infectious disease, and HIV practice settings through live events, an online webinar, interviews, and a published white paper, ultimately inspiring the creation of a Transgender Advisory Committee at one of the participating health systems.1. Discover how a little targeted research into supporters' educational focus can help you create needs assessments that resonate with funders, while maintaining the highest standards of independence and objectivity.2. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the development of ELEVATE and learn how you can apply similar strategies to bring your own visionary ideas to life.3. Master the art of designing education that starts smart, scales strategically, and captures meaningful, measurable outcomes that demonstrate real-world impact.ResourcesMcCrea AD, Dascoli KL. Inclusion in Education, Part 1: Designing a Gender-affirming Educational Initiative. Alliance Almanac. October 2017.McCrea AD, Dascoli KL. Inclusion in Education, Part 2: A New Method for Measuring Changes in Skill, Attitude, and Behavior. Alliance Almanac. April 2018.Connect with KristenFreelance Medical Writer/Editor/Business ConsultantTimestamps00:00 Introduction02:40 Kristen's Background in CME03:54 The changes in the process of writing needs assessments05:52 Walking through the process of the development and impact of a program like Elevate12:13 Lessons from the pilot program of Elevate15:42 How Elevate changed Kristen and the organization she worked in19:56 How to establish and build relationships23:40 Starting conversations for collaboration27:22 Surprising outcomes and feedback30:42 Advice for education providers who want to develop innovative programs34:23 How to start to be brave and make connections37:52 Challenges writers have when writing a needs assessment for a grant proposal44:18 Recap of today's episodes key takeawaysSubscribe to the Write Medicine podcast!Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write Medicine podcast for more valuable insights on continuing medical education content for health professionals. Click the Follow button and subscribe on your favorite platform. Mentioned in this episode:Why Retreats Work: Disconnection, Body Wisdom, and the Science of Letting GoRewrite Your Power Retreat 2026This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp