Press Releases
BackAmerican Board of Internal Medicine Names David B. Reuben, MD, Chair-Elect of Board of Directors
Philadelphia, PA, July 1, 2009 – David B. Reuben, MD, the Archstone Foundation Chair and Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Director of the UCLA Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center has been named Chair-Elect of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board of Directors. He continues to serve as a member of ABIM's Board and its Executive Committee.
ABIM sets the standards and certifies physicians practicing in internal medicine and its subspecialties who possess the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to provide high quality care.
The Board of Directors, composed of physicians who are board certified in internal medicine or one of its subspecialties, guides ABIM's overall mission and direction as it works to improve health care quality. The Executive Committee interprets Board policy and provides high level guidance to staff on issues of strategic importance. All ABIM Directors participate in ABIM's Maintenance of Certification program, which promotes ongoing learning and in which doctors demonstrate their commitment to the Board's standards. Dr. Reuben is certified in both internal medicine and geriatric medicine and renewed his geriatric medicine certificate in 2005.
“Throughout his career David has been an advocate for his patients and our profession,” said Christine Cassel, MD, ABIM's President and CEO. “He will bring the skills of teamwork, coordination and advocacy that are integral to being an effective geriatrician to his work on the Board.”
Dr. Reuben is Director of the Multi-campus Program in Geriatrics Medicine and Gerontology and Chief, Division of Geriatrics, at UCLA Center for Health Sciences. He maintains a clinical primary care practice of frail older persons and attends on inpatient and geriatric psychiatry units at UCLA. Dr. Reuben's current research interests include practice redesign to improve health care quality. He has authored more than 155 peer-reviewed publications, 22 books and numerous chapters. He is lead author of the widely-used book, Geriatrics at Your Fingertips.
In 2000, Dr. Reuben was given the Dennis H. Jahnigen Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to education in the field of geriatrics. He is a past President of the American Geriatrics Society and the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs. Dr. Reuben was part of the RANDUCLA team that received the 2008 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Award for Research by the Joint Commission and National Quality Forum for his work on the Assessing Care of the Vulnerable Elderly (ACOVE).
Also a playwright, Dr. Reuben's play about decision-making at the end of life, Reprieves, has had three readings in Los Angeles. Dr. Reuben received his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine.
Contact Lorie Slass at 215-399-4005 or press@abim.org for more information.
About ABIM
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that grants board certification—a well accepted marker of physician quality—to internists and subspecialists. Certification is a rigorous, comprehensive program for evaluating physician knowledge, skills and attitudes to assure both patients and payers that a physician has achieved competence for practice in a given field. Individual physician certification results may be found at www.abim.org.
