Press Releases

Geriatrics and Critical Care Medicine Representatives Added to the American Board of Internal Medicine's Board of Directors

Philadelphia, PA, July 1, 2003 – The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) amended its bylaws to add two new seats to the Board of Directors, incorporating Geriatric and Critical Care Medicine. ABIM President Christine Cassel, MD, explained, "This change will strengthen the voice of Geriatrics and Critical Care Medicine within the ABIM governance structure."

The ABIM has issued certificates in Geriatric Medicine to more than 7,000 internists and in Critical Care Medicine to more than 7,500 internists.

The new seats will be held by the chairs of the ABIM Committees that develop the Certification and recertification examinations for Geriatrics and Critical Care Medicine. Initially, the new positions will be held by Dr. David B. Reuben for Geriatric Medicine, the specialty devoted to the health care of older adults, and by Dr. Robert L. Danner for Critical Care Medicine, the specialty devoted to health care of patients with acute life-threatening illness.

Dr. Reuben is the director of the Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, chief of the geriatrics division, and co-director of the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. He has worked with the ABIM since 1996 writing questions for the examination internists must pass in order to be certified or recertified in Geriatric Medicine. Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Reuben said, "The graying of the population will mean that care of older persons will become an increasingly important component of virtually every internist's practice. The addition of a geriatrician to the Board is a major step in the effort to ensure that all internists provide the highest quality care for every older person."

Dr. Danner is Senior Investigator and the Head of the Infectious Diseases Section within the Critical Care Medicine Department at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Since 1997, he has worked with the ABIM writing questions for the examination internists must pass in order to be certified and recertified in Critical Care Medicine. After the ABIM vote, Dr. Danner said, "Representation on the ABIM Board of Directors is a step forward for all intensivists that reflects the scientific and clinical maturation of Clinical Care Medicine into an established discipline. An increasing number of hospital beds in the United States are devoted to caring for seriously ill, high-risk patients with potentially reversible conditions. As the technology for supporting these patients has improved, and our diagnostic and therapeutic options have expanded, it is increasingly important that critically ill and injured patients have access to appropriately trained physicians. We are pleased to join our colleagues on the Board at a time in American medicine that has both unique challenges and opportunities for positive change."

"Adding the Chairs of the Critical Care and Geriatric Medicine Test Committees as members of the Board of Directors will facilitate communication to and from these two important subdisciplines of internal medicine," said Lynn Langdon, Senior Vice President of the ABIM. "Their added perspective will strengthen the Board, enabling a broader, better informed view of the diverse community of internal medicine."

The change will be effective July 1, 2003, consistent with the transition of new and retiring Board Directors. All Board Directors serve two-year terms which are renewable.

This move expands the Board from 27 to 29 Directors. Geriatric and Critical Care Medicine will serve on the Board with chairs from the nine subspecialties certified by the ABIM: Cardiovascular Disease, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Hematology, Infectious Disease, Medical Oncology, Nephrology, Pulmonary Disease, and Rheumatology. The Board of Directors also includes a representative nominated by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. The Board of Directors sets policy for all of the ABIM's programs.

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.