David B. Reuben, MD, Named Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine's Board of Directors

David B. Reuben, MD, Director, Multicampus Program in Geriatrics Medicine and Gerontology and Chief, Division of Geriatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Health Sciences, has been named Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board of Directors. He continues to serve as a member of the Board and its Executive Committee.

ABIM sets the standards and certifies physicians practicing in internal medicine and its subspecialties which possess the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to provide high quality health care.

The Board of Directors, comprised 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. All ABIM Directors participate in ABIM's Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. MOC recognizes that what was standard treatment a decade ago may have changed, and that the public needs a process to know if their physicians have kept up to date in their field. Dr. Reuben is board certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine and renewed his geriatric medicine certificate in 2005.

"As health care continues to change, so too must the Maintenance of Certification process," said Reuben. "I am looking forward to working with all the ABIM Board members to evolve MOC into a program that is relevant, valuable and desirable for all internal medicine physicians."

Dr. Reuben is the Archstone Foundation Chair and Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Director of the UCLA Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. He sustains professional interests in clinical care, education, research and administrative aspects of geriatrics, maintaining 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 redesigning the office visit to improve health care quality and measurement of how older adults function. He has authored more than 180 peer-reviewed publications, 29 books and numerous chapters. He is lead author of the widely-distributed book, Geriatrics at Your Fingertips.

"David is an incredible leader who will help us in our efforts to make the American Board of Internal Medicine's certification and Maintenance of Certification the recognized standard of competence for patients, payors and physicians," said Christine Cassel, MD, ABIM's President and CEO.

In 2000, Dr. Reuben received the Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to education in the field of geriatrics and in 2008, he received the Joseph T. Freeman Award from the Gerontological Society of America. He was part of the team that received the 2008 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Research – Joint Commission and National Quality Forum, for Assessing Care of the Vulnerable Elderly. He is a past President of the American Geriatrics Society and the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs.

Also a playwright, Dr. Reuben produced Freda Sandrich: Center Stage, a short documentary that was a finalist for a FREDDIE award. His play about decision-making at the end of life, Reprieves, had a reading in Los Angeles in 2007, and two subsequent commissioned readings, by the California Healthcare Foundation in 2008 and by the Friends of the Semel Institute in 2009. Dr. Reuben received his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine.

For more than 70 years, Certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 19 subspecialties and has meant that internists have demonstrated – to their peers and to the public – that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. ABIM is not a membership society, but a non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public. ABIM is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties. For additional updates, follow ABIM on Facebook.