What a difference a decade makes! In honor of Women’s Health Month, ABFM celebrates dramatic changes in the proportion and role of women in family medicine. ABFM statistics reveal a dramatic increase in the proportion of female family physicians, and now a majority of residents are women.

The story is much richer than proportions. Women now lead across the specialty. Almost 30% of chairs of departments of family medicine are now women, among the highest of clinical specialties. At ABFM, Dr. Lauren Hughes recently completed her term as board chair, just as Dr. Andrea Anderson was recently elected as board chair elect.

Dr. Tochi Iroku-Malize is the current president of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), Dr. Renee Crichlow is the president of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM), succeeding Dr. Linda Myerholtz. Dr. Kristina Diaz is the president of the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD), succeeding Dr. Kim Stutzman and will be followed by president-elect Dr. Sarah Cole...

On June 30, 2023, Dr. Elizabeth (Libby) Baxley will complete her service as Executive Vice President of ABFM. During her five years with ABFM, Dr. Baxley was an integral part of elevating and strategically leading all aspects of ABFM activity that relate to the experience of board-certified family physicians, professionalism, communications, and more. She attended numerous meetings and outreach events each year, representing ABFM while listening and learning from Diplomates’ feedback. She selflessly led and influenced multiple ABFM teams and always shared her passion for the value of board certification.

Dr. Baxley joined ABFM in 2018 after a 31-year career of teaching and providing full-scope family medicine. She also served on the ABFM Board of Directors from 2013-2018, and as chair from 2017-2018.

ABFM staff will forever be grateful for Dr. Baxley’s dedication to the mission of ABFM, her passion for education, and her continuous support of our staff and Diplomates. We wish you the very best for a well-deserved retirement full of adventures!

We are pleased to announce the election of four new officers and four new board members to the ABFM Board of Directors. New officers elected in April are: Gerardo Moreno, MD, MSHS, of Los Angeles, CA as Chair; Andrea Anderson, MD, of Washington, DC as Chair-Elect; Robert L. Wergin, MD, of Lincoln, NE as Treasurer; and Mott P. Blair, MD, of Wallace, NC as Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee.

ABFM also welcomes the following new members to its Board of Directors: Grant S. Hoekzema, MD, of Creve Coeur, MO; Brenessa M. Lindeman, MD, MEHP, of Birmingham, AL; Barbra G. Rabson, MPH, of Brighton, MA; and Stephen A. Wilson, MD, MPH, of Boston, MA. The new board members will each serve a five-year term.

 

 

 

This May, ABFM is celebrating Women’s Health Month by highlighting two family physicians doing unique work for the specialty. These include:

Sharing the work of Dr. Christine Hancock, a family physician and medical director in Bellingham, WA, who treats a diverse rural/urban patient population. We also discuss Dr. Hancock’s work with patients suffering from chronic pain and opioid use disorder.

Recent studies have found a high rate of burnout among family physicians, especially young physicians, and particularly among women. The research teams at the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Robert Graham Center led a three-phased study, Sustaining Women in Medicine (SWIM), aimed at understanding the factors contributing to burnout in women family physicians and to learning about interventions that may help curb or eliminate burnout in this population.

A study of ABFM Diplomates found that women were more likely than men to report symptoms of burnout at the beginning and ends of their careers, with the highest rates occurring in those under 40 years of age. The survey of physicians who were three-years out of residency indicate that 44% of the women in the sample met typical criteria for burnout.

The American Board of Family Medicine will serve as one of the co-sponsoring boards of a new subspecialty in Health Care Administration, Leadership, and Management (HALM). A new Certificate of Added Qualifications (CAQ) will be available to physicians with relevant training and significant leadership and management responsibilities in a wide variety of practice settings, including community practice, hospitals, large medical groups, integrated health systems, academic departments and programs, and health policy organizations. 

“We are pleased to be a co-sponsor of this new CAQ,” said ABFM President and CEO Warren Newton, MD, MPH. “In addition to the recognition and furthering of important administrative skills, this CAQ offers the potential to position family physicians as leaders in different health care delivery systems. It will offer relevant, role-specific opportunities for family physician leaders to tailor their Family Medicine Continuing Certification experience.”

This spring, an additional 40 articles were added to the National Journal Club (NJC) activity, offering convenient access to new peer-reviewed research important to family medicine practice.

Soon after the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, ABFM released a COVID-19 Self-Directed Clinical Pilot which allowed physicians to meet their PI requirement by sharing any of the changes made in their practice that were necessitated by the pandemic.

After three years of positive feedback, this very successful and popular pilot will now migrate to a permanent COVID-19 Self-Directed Clinical activity beginning July 1, 2023. The most notable change...

As a reminder during Women’s Health Month, the Care of Women Knowledge Self-Assessment (KSA) released last year combines updated content from the previous KSAs on Maternity Care and Women's Health. As with the other KSA revisions that have been made since 2019, Care of Women includes a set of 60 single-best-answer questions with updated critiques and references. This KSA is designed for any family physician who sees women in their practice, not just those who provide prenatal or maternity care. It is available by logging in to your MyABFM Portfolio and completion of the KSA will fulfill your minimum self-assessment credit and provide you with 10 certification activity points towards your 50-point requirement, as well as CME credit.