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Committee on CME (COCME)

The Committee on Continuing Medical Education (COCME) vision is to:

Support the development of the Best Pediatric Continuing Medical Education/Continuing Professional Development (CME/CPD) for the Best Pediatric Care.


What does the COCME promote?

what does cocme promote


COCME Mission

The COCME mission is to:

  • Encourage innovation in AAP continuing medical education (CME)/continuing professional development (CPD) activities.
  • Promote active learning by providing educational resources and guidance to CME/CPD planners.
  • Support the implementation of the AAP CME/CPD program mission statement:  Acknowledging that bias and systemic racism negatively impact our patients, the AAP strives to provide learning that addresses bias, stereotypes, and structural determinants of health. Learning activities are designed to improve competence and professional performance for optimal patient outcomes and reinforce best practices of pediatricians and pediatric health care professionals.   

Who Are We?

The Committee on Continuing Medical Education (COCME) includes the individuals listed below.


Click on the member name below to view their bio

Rani Simon Gereige, MD, MPH, FAAP - Chair
Miami, FL

Dr. Gereige has been the Director of Medical Education & Designated Institutional Official at the Nicklaus Children's Hospital (NCH) (formerly Miami Children' s Hospital) since February 2010. In this role, Dr. Gereige oversees the Undergraduate, Graduate, Continuing Medical Education on, and Faculty Development Programs and participates in medical students and residents/ fellows ' education. He also oversees the ABP and ABMS (multi-specialty) MOC4 Portfolio Sponsor Program at Nicklaus Children's Hospital. Dr Gereige also holds a faculty appointment as a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Florida International University (FIU) Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.

In addition to serving COCME Chair, Dr. Gereige is the CME Editor for Pediatrics in Review and a member of the National Conference & Exhibition planning group. He is a member of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA), the American Public Health Association (APHA), and the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD) and serves as a surveyor for the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Dr Gereige is also a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Step 2 USMLE Interdisciplinary Review Committee (IRC) and the Scientific Abstracts Test Material Development Committee (TMDC). Dr. Gereige completed in June 2021 a 6-years term, a member of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Pediatric Residency Review Committee (RRC) where he served as the Vice-Chair of the RRC.

Dr. Gereige's interests include Oral Health, School Health, primary care Sports Medicine, Public Health, Evidence-Based Medicine and QI, Children with Special Health Care Needs and Sports, and Medical Education.

M. Virginia Barrow, MD, FAAP 
Roseville, CA

Haidee Custodio, MD, FAAP
Mobile, AL

John G. Frohna, MD, FAAP
Charleston, WV

Miguel L. Knochel, MD, FAAP
South Jordan, UT

In its work, the COCME also engages liaisons from the Section Forum Management Committee (chairperson), the Section on Early Career Physicians, and the Canadian Paediatric Society. 

Emily Faith Rood Fishman, MD, MSCI, IBCLC, FAAP
Liaison, Section on Early Career Physicians
St. Louis, MO

Anne B. Francis MD, FAAP
Liaison, Section Forum Management Committee
Rochester, NY

Mark Douglas Messenger, MD
Liaison, Canadian Paediatric Society
Canada

To contact the COCME, please contact:

Picture of Deborah Samuel. Deborah Samuel, MBA
(dsamuel@aap.org)
Director, Live Education Activities