Meeting planning is complicated enough; toss in medical and pharmaceutical industry compliance issues, and one can move swiftly from simple headache to migraine. In response, the Professional Meeting Planners Network in Durham, NC, which specializes in one-day meetings, often medical in nature, is preparing to launch a medical-meeting-planner certification program to teach planners the nuances of planning for medical professionals and recognize planners' existing skills in the area."There is so much that is unique to planning medical meetings, especially meetings that involve physicians, and a lot of it deals with compliance issues," notes Rod Abraham, PMPN's founder and certification project director."We want the medical community to understand that we see this need and we are looking to fill the vacuum." PMPN will develop focus groups to help refine the program, with continuing medical education providers, medical meeting planners, and pharmaceutical companies participating in the groups.The focus groups will meet this winter and early spring, Abraham says, and "out of that we'll develop the first model exam and put a beta test group through the program."If all goes according to plan, the certification program will be ready by the second half of this year, according to Abraham.