ABMS Announces New Board of Directors
Five new members elected to the ABMS BOD and two existing BOD members to serve on the Executive Committee

CHICAGO – April 26, 2011 – The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the organization overseeing the certification of physician specialists in the United States, announced at its March 22-23 meeting the election of five new members to its Board of Directors.  In addition, two current members of the Board of Directors were elected to serve on the Executive Committee.

“The Board of Directors, which acts as the managing and governing body of ABMS, is made up of volunteer members who are committed to helping ABMS play a leading role in the health care movement, be a voice for both physicians and patients and provide valuable information on physician certification to the public, the government and the profession,” said Kevin B. Weiss, MD, ABMS President and CEO.  “I congratulate our new Board of Director appointees and am confident they will represent ABMS effectively in their new roles.”

The ABMS Board of Directors consists of 32 voting directors, one representing each of the 24 Member Boards, four public members (which will be expanded to six over the next two years) and the ABMS officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary-Treasurer and President and CEO).

“I am grateful for the service of those members going off our Board of Directors and look forward to working with our new members, who come from a variety of backgrounds that range from education to publishing and will bring valuable input to our efforts to improve health care delivery in the United States,” said John B. McCabe,
MD, BOD Chair.

The newly-elected Board members include:

Miriam G. Blitzer, PhD, Executive Director of the American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG) and Professor and Head of the Division of Human Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she also has appointments in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.  She co-directs the Biochemical Genetics Laboratory and the Maternal Serum Prenatal Screening Laboratory and is active in teaching throughout the medical school curriculum.  Dr. Blitzer is Board Certified in both Clinical Biochemical Genetics and Medical Genetics by ABMG.

Susan Dentzer (Public Member), Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs, the nation’s leading peer-reviewed journal focused on the intersection of health, health care and health policy in the United States and internationally.  She is also an analyst on health issues for the PBS NewsHour.  Dentzer is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.  With Dentzer’s new role at ABMS, the number of Public Member positions on the ABMS Board of Directors has increased from three to four.

Kirk A. Frey, MD, PhD, Vice-Chairman of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine (ABNM) and a professor of Neurology and Radiology at the University of Michigan.  He specializes in nuclear radiology and his clinical and research interests include movement disorders, Parkinson’s disease, brain imaging and neuropharmacology.  Dr. Frey is Board Certified in Nuclear Medicine by ABNM and in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN).

Larry C. Gilstrap III, MD, Executive Director of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG).  He is Chair Emeritus at The University of Texas at Houston and a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.  He has represented ABOG at ABMS since 2007.  Dr. Gilstrap is Board Certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology by ABOG where he also has a subspecialty certificate in Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

Gail A. McGuinness, MD, Executive Vice President of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) and a Director of ABP and the ABP Foundation.  She holds appointments as a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center and at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  Dr. McGuinness is Board Certified in Pediatrics by ABP where she also has a subspecialty certificate in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.

The current members of the Board of Directors who have been elected to serve on the Executive Committee include:

David H. Chestnut, MD, Executive Director of Professional Affairs for the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) and Professor of Anesthesiology and Associate Dean for
the Western Academic Campus of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.  He is also the Edwin L. Overholt Director of Medical Education at Gundersen Lutheran Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  Dr. Chestnut is Board Certified in Anesthesiology by the ABA and in Obstetrics & Gynecology by the ABOG.

Margaret E. O’Kane (Public Member), President of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, an independent, non-profit organization that improves the quality of health care through measurement, transparency and accountability.  O’Kane was just named by Modern Healthcare as one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare for 2011.  In 1999, she was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine and, since 2006, has served as a Public Member on the ABMS Board of Directors.

The entire ABMS Board of Directors 2011-2012 Members (a photo can be found at www.abms.org/About_ABMS/staff.aspx) include:

John B. McCabe, MD, Chair (ABEM)
Thomas E. Norris, MD, Vice Chair (ABFM)
Kevin B. Weiss, MD, ABMS President and CEO
Valerie M. Parisi, MD, MPH, MBA, Secretary-Treasurer (ABOG)
Judith F. Baumhauer, MD, MPH (ABOS)
Gary J. Becker, MD (ABR)
Miriam G. Blitzer, PhD (ABMG)
L. Edward Bryant Jr., JD (Public Member)
Jo Buyske, MD (ABS)
David H. Chestnut, MD (ABA)
John G. Clarkson, MD (ABO)
Susan Dentzer (Public Member)
Kirk A. Frey, MD, PhD (ABNM)
Bruce J. Gantz, MD (ABOto)
Larry C. Gilstrap III, MD (ABOG)
Larry A. Green, MD (ABFM)
Anne-Marie Irani, MD (ABAI)
Rebecca L. Johnson, MD (ABPath)
Gerald H. Jordan, MD (ABU)
Wendy S. Levinson, MD (ABIM)
Dennis J. Matthews, MD (ABPMR)
John E. Mayer Jr., MD (ABTS)
Gail A. McGuinness, MD (ABP)
John C. Moorhead, MD (ABEM)
Thomas A. Mustoe, MD (ABPS)
Margaret E. O’Kane, MHS (Public Member)
Tae Sung Park, MD (ABNS)
Randall K. Roenigk, MD (ABD)
Barbara S. Schneidman, MD, MPH (ABPN)
David J. Schoetz Jr., MD (ABCRS)     
James M. Vanderploeg, MD, MPH (ABPM)

A fourth Public Member position is currently open.  ABMS will make a follow-up announcement when this is filled.
           

About ABMS
For more than 75 years, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has been the medical organization overseeing physician certification in the United States.  It assists its 24 Member Boards in their efforts to develop and implement educational and professional standards for the evaluation and certification of physician specialists.  ABMS Member Boards provide physician certification information to ABMS for its certification verification service programs.  ABMS is recognized by the key health care credentialing accreditation entities as a primary equivalent source of Board Certification data for medical specialists.  Patients can visit www.CertificationMatters.org or call toll-free (866) ASK-ABMS to see if their physician is Board Certified by an ABMS Member Board.  For more information about ABMS, visit www.abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

The 24 Member Boards that make up the ABMS Board Enterprise and cover over 150 medical specialties and subspecialties include the: American Board of Allergy and Immunology, American Board of Anesthesiology, American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, American Board of Dermatology, American Board of Emergency Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Medical Genetics, American Board of Neurological Surgery, American Board of Nuclear Medicine, American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Board of Ophthalmology, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, American Board of Otolaryngology, American Board of Pathology, American Board of Pediatrics, American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American Board of Plastic Surgery, American Board of Preventive Medicine, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, American Board of Radiology, American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery and American Board of Urology.