Press Releases
BackAmerican Board of Internal Medicine Elects Richard P. Shannon, MD to Board of Directors
Philadelphia, PA, July 1, 2009 – Richard P. Shannon, MD, the Frank Wister Thomas Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been elected to the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board of Directors. 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 and one of its subspecialties, guides ABIM's overall mission and direction as it works to improve health care quality. 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. Shannon is board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Shannon, a pioneer in patient safety, currently serves as Chair of the Department of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Before joining the University of Pennsylvania in 2006, Dr. Shannon served as the Claude R. Joyner Professor of Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine. Prior to that, he spent 14 years at Harvard Medical School, serving in a variety of capacities: Research Fellow, Instructor of Medicine, Assistant Professor of Medicine and finally Associate Professor of Medicine and The Francis Weld Peabody Fellow in Medicine.
“A cardiologist, internist, teacher, researcher and innovative thinker, Richard brings a variety of important skills and a unique perspective to the ABIM Board of Directors and his input will be invaluable to our efforts to improve health care quality,” said Christine Cassel, MD, ABIM's President and CEO.
His work in patient safety has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and ABC's 20/20, and he has served as a mentor for the IHI 100,000 Lives campaign and was a centerpiece for the PBS feature entitled “Remaking American Medicine.”
Dr. Shannon is a member of the (PA) Governor's Technical Advisory Group of the Pennsylvania Healthcare Cost Containment Council. He has served as a consultant to the Delmarva Foundation, The Safest in America Consortium, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the New York City Business Group on Health and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Dr. Shannon graduated cum laude from Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology. He earned his medical degree from the University of Connecticut 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.
