The newly-formed International Medical Meeting Professionals Association (IMMPA) is taking its annual conference to Chicago next year under the banner ‘Engage, Enlighten, and Educate’.

The two-day conference - geared towards the medical healthcare meeting management industry - will be held at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, starting on 7 June.

Meanwhile the association is creating its own certification programme, including classroom instruction and examination, to keep medical meeting professionals up to speed with industry developments.

Tony Prusak, IMMPA vice president for communications and technology, said: "The IMMPA certification programme has been created specifically to create additional training experiences and expand the knowledge base in the working toolbox of every medical meeting manager."

IMMPA was established towards the end of 2009 with the creation of a board of directors, an advisory board, and a certification board. Its members are medical meeting professionals who work in a range of sectors from pharmaceutical and biomedical companies to hospitals and animal health centres.