Annual Reports

Anna Kuo, MD, started volunteering with the ABP nearly two decades ago when she was invited to submit two questions to be considered for the certification exam.

“A couple of months later, I received a letter from the ABP inviting me to join the Pilot Testing Committee. I guess I did OK!” laughs Dr. Kuo, a general pediatrician and 2019 Chair of the ABP Board of Directors.

Pamela Simms-Mackey, MD, volunteers on both the ABP General Pediatrics Examination Committee and the Maintenance of Certification Committee.

“I think it’s important for the Board to have a wide range of physicians, with respect to ethnic background, age, practice setting, and geography, on its committees,” says Dr. Simms-Mackey, a general pediatrician practicing in Oakland, CA. “The diversity helps ABP volunteers create the tools that we use to assess and evaluate our physicians.”

Science and medical care are advancing at previously unseen rates, with no signs of slowing anytime soon. There are also more demands on physicians’ time than ever before. A web-based survey conducted in 2008 with a random sample of adults found that most believe it is important for doctors who care for children to be assessed on their quality of care (95 percent) and pass a written test at regular intervals (88 percent).¹

So, how does assessment of clinical knowledge and judgment fit into the world in which we live today?

When Heather McLean, MD, was appointed Vice Chair for Quality in the Department of Pediatrics at Duke University in 2015, she was eager to expand Duke’s quality efforts to improve care for pediatric patients.

However, “it seemed that only a few faculty members were excited to drive change,” Dr. McLean, also Associate Professor in the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, recalls. “The barrier is that everyone is busy!”