ABIM Announces New Members of its Board of Directors

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Philadelphia, July 24, 2024- The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) announced three new additions to its Board of Directors today.

The Board of Directors sets the direction, strategy and goals for the organization, and develops and maintains important partnerships in the healthcare community. It plays a critical role in ensuring ABIM continues its work to help ensure physicians remain current in their medical knowledge.

"Achieving excellence in patient care and building public trust requires our governance structure to be both inclusive of and responsive to the needs of physicians," said Richard J. Baron, MD, MACP, President and Chief Executive Officer of ABIM. "The additions to the Board of Directors this year allow ABIM to continue to have a diversity of voices in the room representing more of the internal medicine community."

George M. Abraham, MD, MPH

Dr. Abraham is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Chief of Medicine at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease. He served as President of the American College of Physicians from 2021 to 2022. He is currently the Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). He also previously served as Chair of the ABIM Infectious Disease Board and is the Past Chair of the Board of Registration (Licensing) in Medicine. Prior to this, he served as a Trustee of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Heather L. Heiman, MD

Dr. Heiman, certified in Internal Medicine, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. She serves as Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education and maintains a busy outpatient internal medicine practice within the Academic Internal Medicine division. Dr. Heiman will also continue serving as Chair of the ABIM Internal Medicine Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA^®) Approval Committee, a role she has held since 2022. She received the Midwest Clinician Educator Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine in 2012. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Suzanne Watnick, MD, FASN

Dr. Watnick, a board certified nephrologist, will join the board effective August 1. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and practices nephrology at the Seattle VA Medical Center. She served as the Chief Medical Officer at the Northwest Kidney Centers from 2017 to 2023, overseeing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic locally and nationally for the dialysis community. She led the organization's ESRD [end-stage renal disease] Seamless Care Organization, the first internal medicine specialty-specific accountable care organization, providing novel approaches to value-based care through integrated community models. She received the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) mid-career leadership award in 2022. Dr. Watnick is currently serving as the inaugural ASN Health Policy Scholar, and is an active member of ASN's Quality Committee and Policy & Advocacy Committee. She works closely with the Department of Health and Human Services to foster innovation through the KidneyX program and improve care for Medicare beneficiaries on dialysis. She received the National Kidney Foundation's 2024 Massry Award for her work in policy and advocacy.

ABIM's governance structure consists of more than 300 board certified physicians as well as allied patients, patient advocates and interprofessional health care team members on more than 50 boards and committees.

About the American Board of Internal Medicine

Since its founding in 1936 to answer a public call to establish more uniform standards for physicians, certification by the ABIM has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 20 subspecialties. Certification 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 physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public.

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Lisa Finnegan 215 399-3992
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