New Leaders Join ABIM Board of Directors and Council

Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2020 – The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) announced a new member of its Board of Directors, as well as new members and leadership of its Council today.

Alicia Fernandez, MD joins the Board of Directors as its newest member. Bruce Leff, MD is now the Chair of ABIM Council and Asher A. Tulsky, MD is Chair-Elect; new members include Laura Evans, MD, Salahuddin Kazi, MD, Julianne Morath, RN, Rudolph Rodriguez, MD, and Lynn Tanoue, MD.

Both ABIM's Board of Directors and Council are comprised of physicians with academic and clinical practice experience, interprofessional health care team members and public members. ABIM's governance members collaborate across the medical community to set strategy, lead innovation in assessment methods and explore opportunities to enhance Certification and Maintenance of Certification (MOC). All physicians in ABIM Governance participate in MOC.

"In today's rapidly changing health care environment, it is critical that physicians are able to demonstrate their proficiency and currency of medical knowledge through board certification," said Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO of ABIM. "For more than 80 years, ABIM has been committed to enhancing the quality of health care by certifying internists and subspecialists who demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for excellent patient care. With a focus on assessment innovation and listening to the physician community, ABIM prides itself on being a physician-led organization that serves as the vehicle through which the community sets standards."

Dr. Baron added, "We are honored to have Dr. Leff, an accomplished educator and well-respected voice in the internal medicine community, as our new Chair of ABIM Council. With many years of experience on ABIM's Geriatric Medicine Exam Committee, the Geriatric Medicine Board and ABIM Council, Dr. Leff is an exemplary Governance member who possesses an unparalleled passion for helping ABIM achieve its mission."

The Board of Directors sets the direction, strategy and goals for ABIM, and develops and maintains important partnerships in the health care community.

About ABIM's New Board member announced today:

Member, ABIM Board of Directors, Alicia Fernandez, MD, is Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a board certified internist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where she practices primary care medicine and attends on the medical wards. Her research is in health and health care disparities, with a focus on diabetes, Latino health, immigrant health, and language barriers.

The ABIM Council, which includes ABIM Specialty Board chairs, designs policies and procedures for Certification and MOC with peers across all the specialties of internal medicine to ensure the quality, relevance and effectiveness of ABIM's programs.

About ABIM's New Council leadership and Members:

Chair, ABIM Council, Bruce Leff, MD, is Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and in the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Department of Community and Public Health.

Chair-Elect, ABIM Council, Asher A. Tulsky, MD, is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and Associate Chief of Education in the section of General Internal Medicine. He is also the Director of Resident Development at Boston Medical Center.

Member, ABIM Council, Laura E. Evans, MD, MSc, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and the Medical Director of Critical Care at the University of Washington Medical Center.

Member, ABIM Council, Salahuddin Kazi, MD, is the Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Internal Medicine and a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatic Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He is also the Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program at UT Southwestern.

Member, ABIM Council, Julianne Morath, RN is an international consultant in patient safety and health care quality leadership. Her work focuses on creating cultures of safety and designing reliability into clinical practice and the structures and mechanisms that support patient care. She is noted for her work in promoting workforce engagement and interdisciplinary alignment, and patient, family, and community advocacy.

Member, ABIM Council, Rudolph Rodriguez, MD is the Director of the Hospital & Specialty Medicine Service Line at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and a Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington. As a clinician scholar, his academic career focused on Nephrology Fellowship Education along with scholarly work on issues related to vulnerable populations.

Member, ABIM Council, Lynn Tanoue, MD is Professor of Medicine and Clinical Chief, Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, where she is also Vice-Chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Internal Medicine. She directs the Yale Screening and Nodule Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, co­directs the Yale Thoracic Oncology Program, and is the principal investigator of the Yale Lung Cancer Biorepository. Her academic focus is in the field of thoracic oncology.

"It's my honor to welcome these five outstanding new members to the ABIM Council. Each of them brings their own unique and important perspective to our work, and I'm greatly looking forward to learning from them during their terms of service," said Dr. Leff. "With the ongoing development of the longitudinal maintenance pathway slated to launch in 2022, it is essential that the new program reflects what we're hearing in the physician community, and I'm confident these new members will help us to achieve that goal."

ABIM Board Certified Doctors Make a Difference
Internists and subspecialists who earn and maintain board certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) differentiate themselves every day through their specialized knowledge and commitment to continual learning in service of their patients. Established as an independent nonprofit more than 80 years ago, ABIM continues to be driven by doctors who want to achieve higher standards for better care in a rapidly changing world. Visit ABIM's blog to learn more and follow ABIM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ABIM is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties.