The 94th Annual Educational Conference
September 23, 2025
The 94th Annual Educational Conference proved to be exactly what attendees have come to expect from CMA conferences: a time for enriching the mind, body and soul with outstanding presentations on timely topics, good conversations and many laughs, and spiritual renewal through daily Mass, eucharistic adoration and confession.
This year’s conference, held in Kansas City, MO Sept. 4-6, was chaired by Dr. Anthony Oliva, who chose for the theme: Tradition, Ever Ancient, Ever New. In an article he wrote for The Pulse of Catholic Medicine, he explained why he picked this theme.
“I have noticed over the 23 years I have been a practicing surgeon that we have strayed farther and farther away from what constitutes the doctor-patient relationship. Many barriers have been erected between physicians and patients. As an example, electronic medical records, government regulations/mandates and third-party payers were instituted with the promise of delivering better care, but I would argue that in many ways the opposite has occurred,” he wrote.
The conference recaptured what it means to practice good medicine through the timely topics addressed by experts in the field, including the doctor-patient relationship, medical education, artificial intelligence in healthcare, gender dysphoria and end of life care. These presentations inspired lively discussion and inspired action by those in attendance.
The keynote speaker was Sr. Dede Burns M.D. POSC, a family medicine surgeon and retired US Army colonel. She shared her remarkable story that began with the influence her father, a thoracic and vascular surgeon, had on her medical vocation. She also credits her mother, who raised eight children and brought them all to daily Mass for the seeds of faith firmly planted in her.
She went to Georgetown University for medical school and joined the US Army to help pay for her education. She became a full-time officer (1982-1989) after becoming a Family Medicine physician. It was her charitable work in India that led her to do a surgical residency in the 1990s, which included caring for Cardinal James A. Hickey, Archbishop of Washington D.C., during his open-heart surgery and for Mother Teresa when she visited Washington D.C. in 1994.
She joined the Little Sisters of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary doing mission work in Sudan and Hati and caring for those during 9-11. She served at Walter Reed, Fort Carson and deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, where she treated the wounded. She took final vows in 2009 and retired from the US Army at that time.
She likes to consider herself “Jesus’ little donkey” with the sole purpose of bringing others to Christ. For her, eucharistic adoration is key to her medical and ministry work and she encouraged attendees not to use being too busy as an excuse for not spending time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. She recounted a fellow surgeon with 10 children who insisted he did not have time for an hour of adoration, which Sr. Dede agreed – he needed two hours at least, she said! During her time in Afghanistan, she and five other soldiers attended eucharistic adoration in the army chapel. Three months later, there were over 100 soldiers praying alongside them. She impressed upon attendees that It just takes that first step and trusts that the Lord generously returns the time we dedicate to Him in worship and taking this very important step can lead others to do the same.
Awards were also given during the AEC for categories such as outstanding guild, chaplain and medical student chapter as well as in recognition of individual members, who live the mission of CMA in their lives and practice, and recognized during the banquet dinner that closed the conference. The list of awards and recipients is found here.
“There were so many wonderful moments at the conference”, Dr. Oliva said. ” I thank everyone who attended, and I hope they left fortified to continue this very important work of rehumanizing health care.”
