The purpose of ASTEP is to fill the gap in your education on stem cells, current and future treatments. Your ability to conduct stem cell treatments is determined by a number of factors. These include your specialty, the type of treatment to be conducted and state and federal regulations concerning the particular treatment or procedure you would like to perform.
The fact is that the top stem cell physicians in the world didn’t become stem cell specialist or experts in a weekend. In order to achieve this expertise, physicians require extensive training over several years to treat patients safely. Our course director designed our comprehensive program to be longer than the weekend CME courses to cover the topics where medical schools and residency programs left off. We are not claiming that you will not become an expert or a stem cell specialist by completing one of our courses. To be proficient in any treatment or procedure requires education, training, and supervision in the desired area. Stem cell treatments are not different to any other type of medical training. Our participants will become well-informed healthcare professional who have been given (through evidence-based lectures) both the pros and cons of stem cell treatments and can now use this information as a basis for research, and/or improving the way they practice medicine.
ASTEP is a comprehensive educational program and all of our courses include lectures that address the regulatory aspect of stem cell treatments. Our lecturers included regulatory attorneys, and physicians who work closely with the FDA and former FDA field investigators. New regulations are created every day, so we advise all participants to check with local, state, and federal guidelines and seek appropriate legal advice concerning the use of stem cells in their area of practice.
For the Complete stem and Practicals course, online access is granted typically for 9 months; however access can be extended if needed. The sub-specialty courses have the allotted time of 6 months; most learners complete their studies within the allowed time period. There is no limitation on reviewing previous lectures during your studies.
We encourage any healthcare professional with an interest in stem cell research and regenerative medicine to enroll in one of our courses. In addition, those who work in the field of regenerative medicine, (office workers, vendors, stem cell lab technician, and pharmacist) who hold at least a bachelor’s degree in biology related field are eligible to enroll. However, currently only physicians (MDs, DOs or those with equivalent degrees earned outside the U.S.) who complete a course through ASTEP will receive CME credits.
Physicians (MDs, DOs or those with equivalent degrees earned outside the U.S.) may apply for the AMA PRA if they hold a valid and current license issued by either one of the U.S., Canadian or Mexican licensing jurisdictions or are engaged in residency training in an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited program. Non-physician health professionals are not eligible for this award.
There is no need to enroll in a subspecialty course once you have completed the Complete course and practical, since all the content from the subspecialty courses is included in it. We have created the Stem Cell Practical for those who have completed the stem cell program and wish to continue their studies with ASTEP. The practical course gives a unique perspective on the current applications of stem cell therapies in regenerative medicine.
For successful completion of the comprehensive stem cell program, participants must complete all recap quizzes within each learning module and an Exit Exam with a score of 80%. For the subspecialty course, topic quizzes and an exit exam must be completed again with a score of 80% or higher.
ASTEP recommends using a wired Internet connection. Even though wireless Internet is the most convenient way to get online, it’s not the fastest. For maximum download and streaming speeds in one of our online course use a wired connection.
Windows
- Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP
- Internet Explorer 7 or higher ?(configured to the minimum requirements for the Blackboard platform)
- 4 MB of permanent space on the hard drive
- 128 MB RAM
Mac
- OS X 10.5 or higher
- Safari browser (configured to the minimum requirements for the Blackboard platform)
- 2 MB of permanent hard drive space
- 512 MB RAM