New Year, New Leadership

Thursday, February 15, 2018

The ABP extended a fond farewell in 2017 to Gail A. McGuinness, MD, and offers a warm welcome in 2018 to Suzanne K. Woods, MD.

Gail A. McGuinness, MD

Dr. McGuinness joined the ABP in 2002 as Senior Vice President for Examination Administration and Credentialing, responsible for exam administration, credentialing, oversight of the subboards, and new subspecialties. Also named Executive Vice President in 2006, she provided redundancy for internal operations activities for the President and CEO. In this role, she served as a voting member on the ABP Board of Directors and the ABP Foundation Board of Directors.

“Dr. McGuinness is an outstanding leader and well-respected throughout the pediatric community,” says ABP President and CEO David G. Nichols, MD, MBA. “We are grateful for her insight, compassion, good nature, and immense dedication to pediatricians, trainees, patients, and the ABP.”

The ABP was not the only organization to benefit from Dr. McGuinness’ inspiring career. She served on the Review Committee for Pediatrics of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), sat on two working committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and was a voting member of the board of directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties.

Before joining the ABP, Dr. McGuinness spent the majority of her academic career at the University of Iowa where she had completed her residency in pediatrics, followed by fellowship training in neonatology at both the University of Colorado and the University of Iowa. While at Iowa, she rose to full professor, directed the residency program, and was associate chair for education, all in the Department of Pediatrics.

Author of more than 70 publications and a coveted presenter, Dr. McGuinness has received several awards throughout her career, including two teaching awards, an alumni achievement award, a faculty chair endowment, the Association of Pediatric Program Directors’ Walter Tunnessen Jr. Award, the Parker Palmer Courage to Teach Award from the ACGME, and the Federation of Pediatric Organizations’ Joseph W. St. Geme Jr. Leadership Award.

Suzanne K. Woods, MD

Dr. Woods became ABP Vice President for Credentialing and Initial Certification on Jan. 1, 2018. She provides oversight for the development of training standards, the tracking and evaluation of residents and fellows, and the credentialing for and administration of examinations. She also oversees the development of the certification process for new subspecialties and serves as the ABP’s liaison to a number of organizations with common interests in graduate medical education.

“I am excited to join the ABP and work with a fantastic team on credentialing and initial certification,” says Dr. Woods. “As a longtime program director, I believe in the commitment to training physicians to provide outstanding, high-quality, and safe patient care.”

Before joining the ABP, Dr. Woods was Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, Director of the Med-Peds Residency Training Program, and Section Chief for Combined Medicine Pediatrics, all at Duke University. She was the residency program director for 16 years.

Previously, Dr. Woods received her medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio, completed her combined pediatrics and medicine residency at Duke, and spent a year on the faculty in the Department of Medicine at Emory University before being recruited back to Duke in 1999 as the first combined Med-Peds physician to practice both specialties there.

Dr. Woods has served as a member of the ABP’s Education and Training Committee, chair of the Review Committee for Pediatrics of the ACGME, and president of the Medicine-Pediatrics Program Directors Association. She is board- certified by the ABP and meets the requirements of Maintenance of Certification (MOC).

“Although we will sorely miss our valued colleague Dr. McGuinness, we are looking forward to the new ideas and perspectives that Dr. Woods will bring to our leadership team,” says Dr. Nichols.

This story was first published in the ABP's 2017 Annual Report.

2017 Annual Report (PDF)

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