Office of Continuing Medical Education welcomes Ruiz as director
The McGovern Medical School Office of Continuing Medical Education welcomed Mayra Ruiz as its new director, effective Dec. 11, 2023.
In March 2022, McGovern Medical School transitioned its accreditation for continuing medical education (CME) activities to its Office of Continuing Medical Education. Previously, CME was offered in partnership with The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Baylor College of Medicine.
“Our goals are to expand the number and availability of CME activities within our institutions and put McGovern Medical School at the forefront of continuing medical education nationally,” said Zi Yang Jiang, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, who chaired the institution-wide CME committee that led the effort to achieve accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). “To that end, Mayra was hired to expand the course offering in our university and to encourage cross-departmental and university-wide collaboration in CME course development.”
Ruiz joins the CME office with two decades of experience in graduate and continuing education in a variety of settings, including non-profit organizations and membership associations, as well as private and public universities like the University of Southern California and the University of California, Irvine. A native Angeleno, she relocated to Houston from Boise, Idaho, where Ruiz most notably led the largest accredited provider of CME in the state for eight years.
Ruiz said she is excited to apply her experience and formal doctoral and graduate education in educational leadership, organizational performance, and workplace learning to her work at UTHealth Houston.
“Our goal is to achieve Accreditation with Commendation during our next reaccreditation cycle,” Ruiz said. “I look forward to working with our faculty and staff to showcase the amazing work they are doing to support physician’s lifelong learning and encourage departments to accredit more robust activities for CME to help us achieve this goal.”
The medical school began the accreditation process with ACCME in 2019 under Jiang’s leadership. More than 50 programs are available, including 19 new conferences in 2023, along with regular departmental grand round lecture series that happen on a weekly basis. For a list of previous and future CME events, click here.
Departments interested in exploring CME accreditation for upcoming and new activities are encouraged to contact CME staff at cme@uth.tmc.edu.