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Table of Contents

Board Members
History
Purpose of the Board
Definition and Content
Requirements
Subspecialties
Application
Examination
Re-application
Multiple Certifications
Certification
Notice of Certification
Fees
Listings and Address Changes
Former Officers
Important Dates

The American Board of Preventive Medicine

Incorporated 1948

Office of the Board:
Through May 1, 2008
The American Board of Preventive Medicine, Inc.
330 South Wells St., Suite 1018
Chicago, Illinois  60606

After May 1, 2008
The American Board of Preventive Medicine, Inc.
111 West Jackson Blvd, Suite 1110
Chicago, Illinois  60604

Telephone: (312) 939-ABPM [2276]
Fax: (312) 939-2218
Email:  abpm@theabpm.org
Web Site:  www.theabpm.org

Revised March 2008

OFFICERS

Chair
Clyde B. Schechter, MD, MA
Bronx, New York

Vice Chair, Aerospace Medicine
John S. Crowley, MD, MPH
Fort Rucker, Alabama

Vice Chair, Occupational Medicine
William W. Greaves, MD, MSPH
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Vice Chair, Public Health and
General Preventive Medicine
Miriam H. Alexander, MD, MPH
Baltimore, Maryland

Secretary
Ronald W. Stout, MD, MPH
Mason, Ohio

Treasurer
Joshua Lipsman, MD, JD, MPH
New Rochelle, New York

Aerospace Medicine Board Members

John S. Crowley, MD, MPH
Fort Rucker, Alabama

Richard T. Jennings, MD, MS
Galveston, Texas

Susan E. Northrup, MD, MPH
Peachtree City, Georgia

Occupational Medicine Board Members

William W. Greaves, MD, MSPH
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Kurt T. Hegmann, MD, MPH
Salt Lake City, Utah

Denece O. Kesler, MD, MPH
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Ronald W. Stout, MD, MPH
Mason, Ohio

Public Health and General
Preventive Medicine Board Members

Miriam H. Alexander, MD, MPH
Baltimore, Maryland

Joshua Lipsman, MD, JD, MPH
New Rochelle, New York

Marcel E. Salive, MD, MPH
Bethesda, Maryland

Clyde B. Schechter, MD, MA
Bronx, New York

Board Office Staff

Executive Director
James M. Vanderploeg, MD, MPH

Administrator
Kristine D. Pasciak

Client Services Representative
Sheila Orozco

Assistant Office Administrator
Pat Rimmer

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HISTORY AND MEMBERSHIP

The American Board of Preventive Medicine, Incorporated (ABPM) is a Member Board of the American Board of Medical Specialties. The Board originated from recommendations of a joint committee comprised of representatives from the Section of Preventive and Industrial Medicine and Public Health of the American Medical Association and the Committee on Professional Education of the American Public Health Association. The Board was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on June 29, 1948 as "The American Board of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Incorporated."

The Board's creation was in accordance with action of the Advisory Board of Medical Specialties (now the American Board of Medical Specialties). In 1949 it was recognized and approved by the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association as a Medical Specialty Board authorized to certify properly qualified specialists in Public Health.

In 1952 the name was changed to The American Board of Preventive Medicine, Incorporated. In February 1953 the Advisory Board of Medical Specialties and the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association authorized certification by the Board of preventive medicine specialists in Aviation Medicine (the name was changed to Aerospace Medicine in 1963); in June 1955, preventive medicine specialists in Occupational Medicine; in November 1960, preventive medicine specialists in General Preventive Medicine; and in 1983, Public Health and General Preventive Medicine were combined into one specialty area of certification. In 1989 the American Board of Preventive Medicine was approved to offer a subspecialty certificate in Undersea Medicine (the name was changed to Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine in 1999) and in 1992 a subspecialty certificate in Medical Toxicology.

The Board is a non-profit corporation, and no member, officer, or trustee may receive any salary or compensation for services. The Board consists of members nominated by organizations listed below:

• Aerospace Medical Association
• American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• American College of Preventive Medicine
• American Medical Association
• Association of Schools of Public Health
• Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine
• Trustees of the American Board of Preventive  Medicine

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PURPOSE

The following are major functions of the American Board of Preventive Medicine in accomplishing its purpose:

1. To grant and issue, to qualified physicians who are licensed to practice medicine, certificates of special knowledge in Preventive Medicine and in one of the specialty areas of Aerospace Medicine, Occupational Medicine or Public Health and General Preventive Medicine; and

2. To encourage the study, enhance the standards of practice, and advance the cause of Preventive Medicine.

Certification in Preventive Medicine does not in itself confer legal qualifications, privileges, or license to practice medicine or the specialty of Preventive Medicine. Furthermore, The American Board of Preventive Medicine has never sought special privileges  or recognition for physicians it has certified, either in their practice of the specialty or on the staff of hospitals or other institutions. Rather, the Board's primary purposes are to pass judgment on the education, training, and knowledge of broadly competent and responsible practitioners of Preventive Medicine and to extend and support development  of the specialty itself.

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DEFINITION AND CONTENT OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

Definition of Preventive Medicine

Preventive Medicine is that specialty of medical practice which focuses on the health of individuals and defined populations in order to protect, promote, and maintain health and well-being and prevent disease, disability, and premature death.

Content of Preventive Medicine

In addition to the knowledge of basic and clinical sciences and the skills common to all physicians, the distinctive components of Preventive Medicine include:

1. Biostatistics and the application of biostatistical principles and methodology;

2. Epidemiology and its application to population-based medicine and research;

3. Health services management and administration, including developing, assessing, and assuring health policies; planning, implementing, directing, budgeting, and evaluating population health and disease management programs; and utilizing legislative and regulatory processes to enhance health;

4. Control and prevention of environmental factors that may adversely affect health;

5. Control and prevention of occupational factors that may adversely affect health and safety;

6. Clinical preventive medicine activities, including measures to promote health and prevent the occurrence, progression, and disabling effects of disease and injury; and

7. Assessment of social, cultural, and behavioral  influences on health.

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REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO EXAMINATIONS

Each applicant for a certificate in Aerospace Medicine, Occupational Medicine, or Public Health and General Preventive Medicine must meet certain requirements to be admitted to the certifying examination. Such requirements are determined by the Board.

Approval for admission to the examination can only be established after the review of a complete application by the full Board. No individual member of the Board is authorized to give an opinion on the admissibility of candidates, nor does the Board do preliminary credential reviews.

For the information of applicants, such requirements are summarized below. A worksheet is available to use in comparing the ABPM requirements with an applicant's training and experience.

General Requirements

1. Medical School: Graduation from a medical school in the United States which at the time of the applicant's graduation was accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, a school of osteopathic medicine approved by the American Osteopathic Association, an accredited medical school in Canada, or from a medical school located outside the United States and Canada that is deemed satisfactory to the Board.

2. Current License(s): Unrestricted and currently valid license(s) to practice medicine in a State, the District of Columbia, a Territory, Commonwealth, or possession of the United States or in a Province of Canada. No license may be restricted, revoked, or suspended or currently under such notice.

3. Clinical Year: A year of supervised postgraduate clinical training provided as part of a graduate medical education program accredited by the ACGME*. Clinical training accredited by the American Osteopathic Association, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the College of Family Physicians of Canada is also acceptable. The training must include at least six months of direct patient care comprising ambulatory and inpatient experience with hands-on patient care involving diagnostic workup and treatment of individual patients.

4. Academic Year: Successful completion of a course of graduate academic study and award of a Master of Public Health or equivalent masters or doctoral post-graduate degree; the course content of which shall include biostatistics, epidemiology, health services management and administration, and environmental health.

5. Practicum Year: Residency practicum of not less than one year which is accredited by the ACGME in the specialty area (Aerospace Medicine, Occupational Medicine, or Public Health and General Preventive Medicine) for which certification is being sought and which shall have provided supervised experience in the practice of that specialty area of Preventive Medicine and planned instruction, observation, and active participation in a comprehensive organized program.

6. Current Practice: The applicant must have been engaged in essentially full-time training for, or practice in, preventive medicine for at least one of the three years preceding application for certification. (Alternative pathway and special pathway applicants will need to demonstrate currency for two of the five years preceding application for certification.)

Alternative Pathway to Certification

Persons graduating from a school of medicine or school of osteopathic medicine prior to January 1, 1984 who have not formally completed all of the components previously described may be considered for admission to the examination if their training and experience are judged by the Board to provide a suitable alternative for formal training.

The Board will consider granting credit toward satisfying training requirements for such factors as:

1. Completion of three-credit hour, post graduate level academic course work in each of the four core areas: epidemiology, biostatistics, health services management and administration, and environmental health or teaching in one or more of the four courses at the post-graduate level and that is acceptable to the Board; and

2. Periods of full-time practice, research, or teaching in the specialty area of Preventive Medicine in which certification is sought. A total of eight years of full-time practice is required if no other specialty certification is held, but may be reduced to six years if certification is held in another specialty recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). For those with an M.P.H. or equivalent masters or doctoral post-graduate degree but no practicum year, a period of four years of full-time practice is required in the specialty area of Preventive Medicine for which certification is being sought; a period that can be reduced to three years if other ABMS specialty certification is held.

Each applicant is considered individually by the Board in accordance with the existing guidelines. A worksheet is available to use in comparing the ABPM requirements to an applicant's training and experience. Practice time needed for the alternative pathway to certification is summarized on this worksheet. Applications must be received by June 1 of each year. Requirements must be completed by August 1 of the year in which the applicant wishes to sit for the examination.

Persons graduating from a school of medicine or school of osteopathic medicine after January 1, 1984 will be admissible to the examination only after completing accredited residency training in Preventive Medicine. This alternative pathway to certification is not available for such graduates.

Special Pathway for ABPM Diplomates

Diplomates of ABPM who have graduated from medical school after January 1, 1984 may request consideration through a special pathway. In order to qualify for this special pathway, applicants must have completed an ACGME accredited residency in a specialty area of Preventive Medicine, been certified in that specialty area, be applying for certification by ABPM in an additional Preventive Medicine specialty area, and have sufficient practice time to meet the requirements. A total of two years of essentially full time practice is required in the specialty area for which the additional certification is sought. In addition, the applicant must have been engaged in essentially full-time training for, or practice in, the specialty area for which the second certification is being sought for at least two of the last five years.

*A statement of the essentials of approved residencies, as well as a listing of accredited residency programs and information regarding The American Board of Preventive Medicine, Inc., may be found in the Directory of Graduate Medical Education Programs, published annually by the American Medical Association. Further information concerning residencies in Aerospace Medicine, Occupational Medicine, or Public Health and General Preventive Medicine may be obtained from the Executive Director, Residency Review Committee for Preventive Medicine, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, 515 North State Street, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60610; web site: www.acgme.org

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SUBSPECIALTIES

Medical Toxicology: Every two years ABPM offers subspecialty certification in Medical Toxicology to ABPM diplomates who meet the appropriate requirements for Medical Toxicology. Applications will be available on the ABPM web site or by contacting the Board office in March 2008.  Applications for the examination to be offered in 2008 will be accepted with postmark dates through April 15, 2008.

Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine: ABPM offers subspecialty certification in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine in the Fall each year to physicians holding current certification from one of the ABMS Member Boards who meet the appropriate requirements in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine.  Those physicians who are certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine must apply through ABEM.  Applications for all other physicians certified by an ABMS Member Board are available on the ABPM web site or by contacting the Board office.

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APPLICATION

There are two ways in which applicants may submit an application:

1. by entering the information online at the ABPM web site;

2. by requesting a paper application form from the Board office. There is a $200 processing fee for paper-based applications.

Applicants requiring special examination accommodations due to a disability should contact the Board office to obtain the Application for Testing Accommodations form. This form is required at the time the examination application is submitted.

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EXAMINATION

The examination is a one-day computer-based examination given in the Fall each year. It is administered at Pearson VUE Professional Centers across the United States over a two week period. This multiple choice examination consists of a morning portion covering the core knowledge of Preventive Medicine and the afternoon portion covering either Aerospace Medicine, Occupational Medicine, or Public Health and General Preventive Medicine.

The subspecialty examination in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine is a half-day computer-based exam given in the Fall each year.  The subspecialty examination in Medical Toxicology is administered every other year by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.  The next offering will be in the Fall of 2008.

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RE-APPLICATION AND RE-EXAMINATION

An applicant approved for admission to the examination who does not take the examination, or who fails to pass the examination within the three-year approval period, is required to file a new application and pay a new application fee.

Applicants not approved for admission to the examination may request reconsideration of their applications on the basis of new or additional information within two years of the filing date of the original application, with payment of the re-review fee.

Candidates not passing the examination may, upon timely registration and payment of appropriate fee, be admitted to re-examination during their approval period.

Beginning with the 2001 examination, examinees who fail one component of the examination, may retake just the component that was failed at the next offering of the examination. This policy applies only to the next examination offering; if an examinee does not pass the component at the next examination offering, taking both components of the examination will be required on future attempts.

A candidate who has failed the examination on two  or more occasions may be required to have additional training, in accordance with recommendations from the full Board, before being admitted  to further examination.

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MULTIPLE CERTIFICATION

An individual may apply sequentially for admission to examination in more than one specialty area of Preventive Medicine. Applicants may not apply in more than one specialty area in a given year. An applicant must fulfill the individual requirements of each specialty area in which application is made and cannot double count the same periods for practice time or currency time.

Beginning with diplomates who passed both components of the 2001 examination, the ABPM permits diplomates who fulfill the requirements for a second Specialty Area to apply to take the examination in the second Specialty Area. Certification in the second Specialty Area will require passing only the Specialty Area examination within seven (7) years of the initial certifying examination. If certification in the second Specialty Area is not achieved within seven years, retaking the Core examination will be required.

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CERTIFICATION

Upon satisfactory completion of the examination, a certificate will be issued stating that the applicant has been found to possess special knowledge in the specified specialty area of Preventive Medicine. The certificate will be signed by the officers of the Board and will have the seal of the Board affixed. Each certificate remains the property of the Board, but the person to whom it is issued is entitled to its possession unless it is revoked.

Any certificate issued by the Board may be revoked if evidence, satisfactory to the Board, is presented that the applicant was not eligible to receive it at the time of issuance, or that any pertinent fact had been misstated, misrepresented, or concealed; or that any licensure to practice medicine has been suspended or revoked. Note: The issuance of a certificate to a person does not constitute membership on the Board.

Any certificate issued by the Board may be revoked if evidence, satisfactory to the Board, is presented that the applicant was not eligible to receive it at the time of issuance, or that any pertinent fact had been misstated, misrepresented, or concealed; or that any licensure to practice medicine has been suspended or revoked. Note: The issuance of a certificate to a person does not constitute membership on the Board.

Time-Limited Certificates

Please note: By action  of the Board in August 1994, ABPM now issues ten-year, time-limited  certificates. The first time-limited certificates were issued in 1998 to candidates who passed the certifying examination given in November 1997.

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NOTICE OF CERTIFICATION

The examination results, without individual identifiers, are reviewed by the full Board after completion of scoring and examination analysis.  Final determination of candidates' certification status is made at that time.

Candidates who have taken the examination may  expect to be notified of results by mail within two months after taking the examination.

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FEES

The members of the Board serve without compensation. Fees are based on the actual expenses incurred in the review of applications; examination development, administration, and scoring; and office administration.

A nonrefundable application fee of $410* is required if the applicant holds an MPH or equivalent masters or doctoral post-graduate degree and has completed an ACGME accredited residency in the specialty area of Preventive Medicine in which certification is sought.

A nonrefundable application fee of $705* is required if the applicant is applying through the alternative pathway to certification.

A nonrefundable application fee of $590* is required if the applicant is applying through the special pathway for ABPM diplomates.

There is a $200* processing fee for paper-based applications.

A nonrefundable re-review fee of $190* is required to reactivate an application within two years of the original review.

An additional fee of $200* may be required for an incomplete application after the July 15 deadline.

The examination fee of $1,950* is due with the application and is nonrefundable if registration for the exam is canceled less than 48 hours prior to the exam. If your application is not approved, the examination fee will be refunded.

SUBSPECIALTY FEES:

Medical Toxicology: A nonrefundable application fee of $420* is required at the time of application.

The examination fee of $1,470* is due with the application and is nonrefundable if registration for the exam is canceled less than 48 hours prior to the exam. If your application is not approved, the examination fee will be refunded.

Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine: A nonrefundable application fee of $385* is required for those applying through the fellowship pathway and is due the time of application.

A nonrefundable application fee of $555* is required for those applying through the practice pathway and is due the time of application.

The examination fee of $1,750* is due with the application and is nonrefundable if registration for the exam is canceled less than 48 hours prior to the exam. If your application is not approved, the examination fee will be refunded.

A $50 administrative fee will be deducted from all refunds.

*All fees are reviewed annually and are subject to change at the direction of the Board.

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LISTING OF INDIVIDUALS CERTIFIED

A list, current to the date of publication, of persons to whom certificates have been issued by the Board may be found in The Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists, the ABMS web site www.abms.org, and the ABPM web site www.theabpm.org.

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REPORTING OF CHANGES OF ADDRESS

Once certified, physicians should notify the following offices of any changes of address:

1. The American Board of Preventive Medicine, Inc. Diplomates may update their address using the ABPM web site or by mailing updated address information to the Board office. Address updates by email are not accepted.

2. The Physicians Biographical Records, American Medical Association, 515 North State Street, Chicago, IL 60610; the office that maintains a master file of all physicians in the U.S.

3. The American Board of Medical Specialties, 1007 Church Street, Suite 404, Evanston, IL 60201-5913, source of the records for The Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists.

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FORMER OFFICERS
OF THE BOARD

VICE CHAIRS

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IMPORTANT DATES

JUNE 1:
Deadline for completed application forms and fees.

Deadline for receipt of re-review requests and fees.

JULY 15:
Deadline for receipt of all additional information not included with the June 1 application.

AUGUST 1:
Deadline for completion of all Alternative pathway and Special pathway requirements to sit for the examination.

Residency pathway requirements need to be completed 15 business days prior to the first day of the examination. In 2008, the deadline is September 8.

AUGUST:
Meeting of the Board to determine admissibility of applicants to the examination. Letters of notification of admissibility for the examination are sent by mail to candidates after the August Board meeting. Notification is not given by telephone.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER:
Annual one-day computer-based examination at various sites across the United States. In 2008, the examination will be offered over a two week period of September 29 - October 3 and October 6 - 10.

DECEMBER:
Meeting of the Board to determine the pass/non-pass score for the previous examination.

Results of the certifying examination are mailed to candidates. Notification is not given by telephone.

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News Highlights

The 2008 Annual News Update is now online.
>> Read more...

The dates for the 2008 MOC exam are now available.
>> Read more...

The ABPM now accepts AOA-accredited clinical years
>> Read more...

The practice pathway for Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine has been extended through 2010.
>> Read more...

ACOEM develops EPIQ/MOC Part 4
>> Read more...