ABMS Board of Directors Appointments
John McCabe, MD, FACEP, to Chair ABMS Board

CHICAGO – March 24, 2010 – The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the organization that oversees the certification of physician specialists in the United States, announced at its Annual Assembly Meeting today the appointment of John McCabe, MD, FACEP, as the 33rd chair of its Board of Directors, and the appointment of six new members to the Board.

Dr. McCabe joined ABMS in 1999 and most recently served as the vice chair of its Board of Directors.  He has been a member of the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) since 1996, and has held all offices within that organization including president of the board from 2004-2005. 

“John McCabe is an outstanding leader in advancing the ABMS mission to improve the quality of medical care through enhanced physician accountability,” said Kevin B. Weiss, MD, ABMS president and CEO. “He will be a valuable asset as ABMS moves forward with its commitment to develop and apply rigorous professional and educational standards for the certification of physician specialists and the maintenance of certification throughout their careers.” 

In addition to his roles with ABMS and ABEM, Dr. McCabe, a renowned emergency medicine physician, is professor of emergency medicine, State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY and chief executive officer and senior vice president for hospital affairs, Upstate University Hospital.  He also was instrumental in the development of the university’s Department of Emergency Medicine and its residency program. He served as editor of the journal, Resuscitation. He is past president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Dr. McCabe attended medical school at the SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, completed his internship at the Charles F. Kettering Medical Center in Kettering, Ohio, and his residency in emergency medicine at Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio.

The ABMS Board of Directors (BOD) consists of 31 voting directors - one representing each of the 24 Member Boards, three public members (which will be expanded to six over the next three years) and the ABMS officers (chair, vice chair, secretary-treasurer and president). Other newly elected board members include:

Jo Buyske, MD, adjunct professor of surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, representing the American Board of Surgery, of which she is associate executive director.  A prominent surgeon, Dr. Buyske is the incoming president of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons and serves on the editorial board of Archives of Surgery.  She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Physician Mentor Award of the American Medical Association’s Women Physician’s Congress. 

Bruce J. Gantz, MD, professor and head of the department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, representing the American Board of Otolaryngology.  Dr Gantz’s research interests include: cochlear implant clinical research, management of facial paralysis, hearing preservation in acoustic tumor surgery, and management of chronic otitis media with cholesteatoma.  He is the principal investigator of the Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center, funded by the NIH since 1985.

Larry A. Green, MD, professor of family medicine and the Epperson-Zorn chair for innovation in family medicine at the University of Colorado, Denver, representing the American Board of Family Medicine.  Dr. Green is a member of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics and co-chair of the steering committee for Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice, a national comparative case study of family medicine residency innovations.

Anne-Marie Irani, MD, professor of pediatrics and internal medicine, and chair of the division of pediatric allergy, immunology and rheumatology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, representing the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.  Dr. Irani has participated in numerous clinical trials for pediatric asthma.  She is co-director of the allergy/immunology training program at Virginia Commonwealth University and has served on the editorial board of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and was an associate editor of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. 

Gerald H. Jordan, MD, professor of urology and director of the adult and pediatric genitourinary reconstructive fellowship program, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk representing the American Board of Urology.  Dr. Jordan has wide and varied academic interests and is an innovative leader in the field of genitourinary reconstructive surgery.  He is keenly motivated in the area of investigation and has made notable contributions to urologic literature. 

Wendy S. Levinson, MD, Sir John and Lady Eaton professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, representing the American Board of Internal Medicine.  Dr. Levinson is a national and international expert in the field of physician-patient communication.  Her research has spanned a number of highly relevant policy issues, including the relationship of medical malpractice to breakdown in communication, the effectiveness of primary care physicians and surgeons in helping patients to make informed decisions, and the disclosure of medical errors to patients. 

Thomas A. Mustoe, MD, Stuteville professor and chief of the division of plastic surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, representing the American Board of Plastic Surgery.  Dr. Mustoe has been named annually to multiple best doctors lists for the past fifteen years.  He has authored more than 150 peer reviewed publications and done NIH supported research for 20 years. He has served on the editorial boards of Archives of Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgery, and Wound Repair and Regeneration.  He served as president of the Wound Healing Society and received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. 

Thomas E. Norris, MD, associate dean and professor of family medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, representing the American Board of Family Medicine.  Dr. Norris has been named vice chair of the ABMS Board of Directors and has sat on the Board since 2005.  An authority figure in family medicine, Dr. Norris has served as president of both the Montana and Washington Academies of Family Physicians and was elected president to the American Board of Family Medicine in 2000.

About ABMS
For more than 75 years, American Board of Medical Specialties 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 healthcare credentialing accreditation entities as a primary equivalent source of board certification data for medical specialists. Patients can visit www.abms.org or call toll-free 1-866-ASK-ABMS to see if their physician is board certified by an ABMS Member Board. For more information about ABMS visit http://www.abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

The 24 Member Boards that make up the ABMS Board Enterprise cover more than 145 medical specialties and subspecialties and include: 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.