Annual Reports

MOCA-Peds, the ABP’s online, non-proctored assessment platform, continued to evolve in 2020 by including four additional pediatric subspecialties and adapting to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic with even more flexibility.

The pediatric subspecialties added to the MOCA-Peds lineup in 2020 were Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Pediatric Nephrology, and Pediatric Pulmonology. Previously launched in 2019 were General Pediatrics, Child Abuse Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology, and Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

Then, COVID-19 struck. Recognizing that the daily lives of nearly every pediatrician had been impacted by the virus, the ABP…

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Dr. Greg Gulbransen (left) from Oyster Bay, NY, after performing a swab test to see if his patient had COVID-19Few pediatricians had planned for a worldwide pandemic before the novel coronavirus led to quarantines and social distancing in March 2020. But suddenly, without much warning, the world changed. Parents feared bringing their children to pediatric appointments, yet the need for sick and well-child care continued. And pediatricians responded — with amazing resourcefulness.

On the Road

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Dr. Sapna Kudchadkar with her son Kishen (15), daughter Asha (12), and husband RajSapna Kudchadkar, MD, PhD, has unprecedented insight into what her patients with COVID-19 are going through; she was one of the first 200 people in Maryland to contract the virus. Her symptoms started in March 2020, about a week after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic.

Dr.Kudchadkar is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and works in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). At the time…

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Because of the CoronavirusA pandemic is scary for everyone, but especially for young children who don’t understand why they can’t play with their friends or visit their grandparents. Deborah Rotenstein, MD, a board-certified pediatric endocrinologist, believes that part of a pediatrician’s role is to help patients feel safe and cared for. To that end, she has written a book to explain the coronavirus to preschoolers.

Before the pandemic, Dr. Rotenstein had planned to travel to Israel to visit her granddaughter, then 3½ years…

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In the spring of 2020, before George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, the U.S. public had already heard that Black people were disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus.1 Pediatricians who have seen health inequities in their patient populations for years — due to the social determinants of health (SDOH) or systemic racism — were not surprised.

Dr. Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson“Health disparities are driven by social disparities,” says board-certified pediatrician Elizabeth “Betsey”…

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A virtual ECHO Autism classroom

Photo: A virtual ECHO Autism classroom

While the COVID-19 pandemic has caused health care chaos in many parts of the United States and world, another less-visible epidemic has been brewing under the surface for decades: the behavioral and mental health crisis among children and adolescents.

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For years, the ABP has actively worked to diversify the membership of our committees and subboards. A more diverse group of volunteers will help ensure that pediatric exams are unbiased. But we also know that guarding against implicit (unconscious) bias requires a clear and ongoing prevention and evaluation strategy.

To help prevent implicit bias in exams, the ABP introduced training materials that focus on preventing content in our exams that may lead to bias. These training materials have been provided to the pediatrician volunteers who write, review, and approve exam items (questions). And in 2020, the ABP also began an additional process to evaluate individual exam items for…

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To achieve its goal of continuous learning and improvement, the ABP frequently engages with pediatricians, trainees, and others to collect ideas and insights to make certification more relevant to both physician and patient.

“We see immense value in strengthening our connections with pediatricians — and learning from them how we can improve,” says Laurel Leslie, MD, MPH, ABP Vice President for Research.

Dr. Leslie and her team coordinate the surveys that pediatricians take after completing an examination, enrolling in another certification cycle, or contacting the ABP’s Support Center. They also engage with user panels (a focus group that meets several times) of…

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Dr. Carol CarraccioCarol Carraccio, MD, MA, is a giant in the world of competency-based medical education (CBME), which focuses on assessing the readiness of trainees to advance to practice or fellowship.

Dr. Carraccio, former Vice President for CBME at the ABP, retired in June after nine years at the ABP and more than 30 years in pediatric education.

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Quality improvement (QI) has made an optimist of Ulfat Shaikh, MD, MPH, MS.

“It makes you a problem solver,” she says, “instead of someone who gets disheartened by every little problem that comes your way.”

Dr. Shaikh meets with a young patient in the clinic. Photo courtesy of UC RegentsDr. Shaikh is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California (UC) Davis School of Medicine, and Medical Director for Quality at UC Davis Health. She was awarded the ABP 2020 Paul V. Miles (PVM) Fellowship in recognition of…

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