March 9, 2026
This year’s Steven Levenson Lectureship in Medical Direction—entitled The New Era in Medical Direction: Facing the Crisis of Confluence—is being delivered at PALTC26 later this month by Thomas Lawrence, MD, CMD.
The lectureship was established by the Foundation for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (PALTC) Medicine to honor the legacy of Dr. Levenson, who served for 43 years as a physician and medical director in Maryland, focusing on long-term and subacute care and nursing home regulation, before passing away in 2024. As a past president of AMDA (now PALTmed) and a long-time consultant to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), he was a passionate advocate for medical director education and a proponent of the medical director's critical role in PALTC.
“In the post-acute and long-term care arena, there is an evolving confluence of major forces creating an environment full of challenges for the PALTC provider and medical director. These forces include the corporatization of LTC facilities, the increasing intensity of regulatory demands, and the evolving demographic imperative of our rapidly aging culture,” Dr. Lawrence explains. “My lecture will explore this evolving landscape with particular reference to the power afforded by medical director education and training through the recently updated, expanded, and enhanced PALTmed Core Curriculum program and the broadened opportunity for CMD certification.”
Dr. Lawrence is honored to give this year’s lecture, named for the man who he says had the greatest impact on his career. In fact, across the nearly 30 annual conferences he’s attended over the years, he went to more sessions led by Dr. Levenson than any other speaker. He notes, “His passion for teaching, always with the focus of doing the right thing for our residents, has been one of the most impactful influences in my work as a medical director.”
Dr. Lawrence considers PALTmed and its Pennsylvania chapter to be his professional home. ”These associations have always been a source of growth and support for my career,” he says. “I would advise anyone working as a medical director to fully engage with the opportunities offered by this organization.”
And as a medical director and a former faculty chair of the Core Curriculum, he enthusiastically recommends the program for anyone who wants to “energize and equip themselves for all the challenges that we face daily in this work.”
Dr. Lawrence’s lecture will be part of Friday morning’s General Session. There’s still time to register. If you can’t travel to California, please consider the Virtual Learning Track. It includes all 3 General Sessions, 11 live-streamed sessions, and more.