The Oncology Learning Center, Inc., (OLC) is an accredited CME provider. OLC is owned and operated by Steve Madison.  Steve has been an oncology educator for more than two decades, and has been the founder of another successful CME oncology company which he sold several years ago.

OLC is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and specializes in all areas of cancer education where Steve and his colleagues and company have a well-established niche of expertise and professionalism.  The OLC office address is 16415 Addison Road, Suite 300, Addison, TX 75001, a suburb of Dallas.  Our telephone number is 214-866-0305.  Or you may e-mail us via steve.madison@olccme.com

OLC has assembled a world-class group of experts in key subspecialty areas within oncology and hematology to be members of its Scientific Medical Oncology Board.  The OLC Board is instrumental in bringing the most advanced concepts from translational research (“bench-to-bedside”) to community, private practice medical oncologists/hematologists with the most up-to-date information about the treatment of cancer.  The OLC Board is comprised of the true academic thought leaders from the most prestigious comprehensive cancer centers in the world.

Steve Madison, RPh, MBA
Steve is Chief Executive Officer of the OLC.  He is a well known authority on cancer education, with more than 26 years of experience in this field. Highly respected by leading academic medical and scientific authorities in cancer, Steve is able to bring together the best minds to identify the most important educational needs, and then plan and execute the highest quality of CME activities.

George W. Sledge, Jr., MD, Chairman, Scientific Medical Oncology Board of the OLC
Dr. George W. Sledge is Professor of Medicine and Pathology of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, IN, and Co-Director of the Breast Cancer Program of the Indiana University Cancer Center.  Dr. Sledge is also the Chairman of the Breast Research Committee of the Eastern Oncology Cooperative Group (ECOG), one of the top cancer clinical trials groups of the National Institutes of Health.  Dr. Sledge is considered by his peers as one of the most respected academic thought leaders in breast cancer research in the world.

CME Mission
The primary mission of the OLC is to support the continuing education of cancer healthcare professionals by providing innovative and practical, user-friendly, educational activities. These activities are intended to reinforce current standards of care, impart new knowledge and practice skills, disseminate information on current trends and research, and enhance the healthcare environment for clinicians and their patients. CME activities offered by OLC are reflective of competance-based, and performance-based medicine and designed to provide the healthcare audience with information oriented towards improved patient care.  

    
GOALS AND VALUES
While the CME mission is to support CME for healthcare professionals, OLC is also focused on bringing the most up-to-date evidence into the hands of those professionals who affect patient care.  The goals and values represented by OLC are listed below:

• Assure that all activities are evidence-based, validated for, scientific objectivity and fair balance, and provide actionable patient care recommendations.
• Assure that all educational activities are either competance-based, performance-based or outcomes based.
• Develop robust and clinically-relevant activities that benefit from our core area of expertise in cancer and help identify emerging areas of unmet educational needs.
• Improve patient care by encouraging a continuous educational dialogue among researchers, clinicians, scientists and other healthcare professionals.
• Proactively measure the outcomes of our educational activities and the value to clinicians and patients.
• Develop and maintain educational alliances with academic institutions and national specialty societies.
• As an accredited provider, perform at an exemplary level by exceeding the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the guidelines of the American Medical Association’s Physician’s Recognition Award (AMA/PRA).

CONTENT AREAS     
The content of the OLC CME overall Educational Program focuses on cancer, with sub-specialization in various forms of patient management including therapies, pathology and testing, and supportive care. Additionally, activity topics address clinical practice guidelines, factors for the improvement of patient quality of life, and safety considerations for patients. OLC educational activities serve to bring the latest research to the practicing oncologist and exemplify the phrase “from bench to bedside,” encompassing translational research, and all newer needs of cancer clinicians, including an emphasis on personalized therapies.
   
PARTICIPANTS IN OLC'S EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Because cancer is treated by a team of specialists, the content is focused on oncologic physicians, but attendance is open to all who care for the cancer patient. Another factor in the determination of participation in OLC’s CME activities is the underlying basic science and research. New developments in cancer treatment are evolving at a rapid pace; therefore scientists also may chose to attend the educational activities to learn about the newest trends, and evidence available. Potential participants include physicians, scientists, researchers, nurses, pharmacists and other health professional members of the interdisciplinary cancer care team.

EDUCATION FORMATS
All of the OLC educational activities are based on recognized adult learning principles, including but not limited to, didactic presentations, with case-studies, small-group interactive learning sessions, audience response technology, question-and-answer discussions, and the incorporation of other technology-based learning systems. Types of activities include:

• Live symposia, workshops, video conferences and audio conferences
• Enduring materials including print and computer-based media such as CD-ROMs
• Internet CME including both live Web casts and enduring formats

The educational design is tailored to the specific needs of the identified audience for our activities, and is also a function of the specific educationsl needs identified, urgency of the topic area, and available funds for the planning and development of the activity.

EXPECTED EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
OLC is committed to assessing the impact and effectiveness of its CME Program and each of its individual educationa activities, and employs methods that focus on clinical behavioral changes, skill acquisition, attitude changes and patient outcomes, as follows:

• Consistent use of post-activity evaluation tools that measure immediate participant learning and new attitudes about behavior change, including changes in competance, performance and outcomes.
• Educational effectiveness is determined by applying the following criteria:
• Learners either validated current behaviors or adopted new behaviors
  • Outcomes of behavior change have impacted patient health [when performance improvement (PI) activities are utilized]
  • Activities provide tools that help the healthcare professional deflect barriers that may prevent the implementation of new behaviors, such as healthcare systems, cultural competencies, access to care, and cost
  • Patient safety is addressed and improved through the educational activity